A Rose Has Its Thorns
by PhantomWriter7
Summary: When a group trip goes a little too far, Hermione is stuck trying to solve who she did the deed with the night before... Very cliche, but whatever. We need more FredxHermione stories. ;D
1. Hangover's Are A Major Bitch

**Disclaimer: I own nothing Harry Potter related. It's J.K. Rowling's (as you all know).**

**B/N: Hey guys! This is one of my favorite hetro-pairings so since I can't find enough decent ones, I decided to write my own cliché, simple-plotted one. Enjoy!**

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Hermione rubbed her eyes groggily, hoping the pounding in her skull would diminish quickly. She cringed as the afternoon light drifted into the room, hitting her in the face with such force she thought her brain would leak through her ears. She clamped her aching head between her hands and prayed to any higher being who could hear her, to stop the accursed pain. Of course none answered, leaving her to give a sigh of annoyance.

Shielding her sensitive eyes from the light, she kicked the covers of her blankets off her body and made to get up when something caught her attention. She felt something sticky and wet between her legs.

Much to her horror it wasn't her own sticky and wet substance that had pooled onto the bed.

Ignoring her head that screamed in protest, she jumped up and surveyed her surroundings. She had awoken in her own bed like she had the past couple mornings, only the sheets were messier than she normally had them since it was just her who normally slept in the bed. No one else was in the room.

Hermione tried to think back to the previous night about what had happened but the last thing she could remember was Ron making fun of her for not being able to drink a whole fire whiskey in one shot. The way he had taunted her about it had gotten on her nerves, enough to make her actually do it.

Then she blacked out and apparently had gotten 'down and dirty' with someone.

Shakily she stood up, moving around her room in search of anything that could give her a clue to had spent the night romping with her. Not a shirt, nor sock lay anywhere. Whoever it had been, they had made sure not to forget anything when departing.

Her head gave an extra painful throb, alerting her attention to the much needed shower and potion mixture that could cure hangovers. Awkwardly, trying very hard not to think about how uncomfortable she was 'downstairs', she made her way to her bathroom that was attached to the corner of her room.

Neville Longbottom laid in her bathtub, passed out with a lopsided party hat on his head and a muggle beer still clutched between his fingers.

Hermione felt her eyebrow twitch as she quickly backed out of the bathroom, shutting the door silently. Slowly she snatched the sheet off her bed and wrapped it around her. Deciding to leave the boy where he laid, she headed towards the bathroom that was down the hall from her bedroom, which was the biggest one in the whole house. When she opened the door she found Luna and Harry passed out next to each other right in front of her door. Harry's arms were wrapped around Luna in a protective manner that at any other time Hermione may have considered cute.

At the moment of course, they were laying in front of her door, and she was semi-naked.

Deciding to ignore all the surprises until after she had a shower, some hangover potion, and some extra strong coffee, she stepped over them and continued down the hall. Much to her disappointment she found one of her guest bedroom doors open where Ginny was sprawled out on the bed, sleeping off her own consumption of butterbeers (unkown to her and the other responsible teenagers present, the 16 year old's drinks had been spiked by a mischievous pair of twins) while her brother Ron was curled up on the floor drooling onto the nice carpet.

Hermione inwardly groaned, feeling more irritated at her classmates the farther on the morning went. By the time she reached the bathroom, she was ready to beat someone with the thickest book she could find. Especially when she discovered the bathroom was already in use.

Not wanting to wake everyone and deal with the drama of the previous night just yet, she rattled the doorknob angrily, wishing she had grabbed her wand off her bed stand so she could charm whoever dared poke there nose out of her bathroom.

A damp puff of red hair and a face full of freckles met her vision as George popped his head out of the bathroom. When he spotted Hermione looking like a cat who had just been tossed into a pool, he quickly held up a finger and shut the door.

The brunette could almost feel her temper increase at his actions. Suddenly the door opened and he exited, waving for her to enter. Her mind registered the fact that he left wearing only a short towel around his waist, but it was only pushed to the back of her mind to think about later. At the moment she felt to dirty to think much more and just hoped the water would beat away all her problems momentarily.

Instead, the water only gave her a more peaceful surrounding in which to ponder the night before. The fact of the matter was she had slept with someone who didn't stick around to say 'Good Morning'. Or maybe they had just relocated to a different room once the two had finished? She rubbed her head, wishing she had taken a hangover remedy thirty minutes ago so that it would have kicked in by then.

A knock at the door drew her from her thoughts as Ginny's voice floated in, "Hermione? Fred and George say breakfast's ready."

Instead of sending the younger girl a solid reply Hermione more or less mumbled a, "Mmmm." and said no more.

She finished quickly, figuring she wasn't the only dirty feeling one, and made a hasty retreat back to her room, thankful that no one was about to see her wet and wrapped in a towel, dragging a damply spotted bed sheet behind her.

She began to undress, pulling her bra on when Neville slammed the door open from the bathroom, making her jump. When he saw Hermione in the middle of her actions his face turned a deep red and he quickly retreated back into the restroom, shouting a quick, "Sorry!"

That morning just was not her morning.

She got dressed in record time, quickly making sure her hair was brushed and her bed sheets were removed to possibly hide her shame for being so loose with someone and not even knowing their identity.

Before she left she knocked on her bathroom door to tell Neville she was leaving, before closing her bedroom door behind her and walking towards the kitchen.

The eight of them were spending a few sunny weeks on the sunny beaches of England's nicer western coast line, with permission from their families (The Weasly's standing in as Harry's guardians) and the agreement of Bill Weasly, allowing them to borrow his vacation home. They had arrived there three days ago, and were already having wild drinking parties thanks to Fred and Georges abilities to steal muggle alcoholic drinks without much effort. All of them, aside from Luna and Ginny, were adults in wizard years, but even then it was a bit far for them to go on a drinking binge after gaining their parents trust.

Yet that's what had happened, and somehow Hermione had let go and joined in the festivities, even forgetting as much as to check to make sure the drinks were clean for them.

Hermione sniffed, as if to announce her presence, as she entered the kitchen to find most everyone accounted for, besides Neville and Luna who had both decided to take showers. No one was really in a chatty mood due to the immense hangovers, which suited Hermione just fine. She sat down in between Harry and Fred, nodding thankfully to Harry when he offered her a cup of the foulest, petrid, green liquid you would ever have the misfortune of drinking. Some would say it was even worse than the horrible polyuice potion. At the moment it was like a brilliant light was shining down upon the green, bubbling cup of hangover medicine making it a god-like remedy for her pains. Hermione quickly drained it, covering her mouth when she was finished to make sure she didn't vomit it back out.

As she settled down, she looked around the table summing up all her male companions. There were five possible suspects, one of which having screwed her only hours ago. The only problem was finding out who it was without anyone else knowing.

Casually she took a drink of her orange juice before asking, "So, you guys remember what happened last night?" Harry looked at her, shaking his head, allowing her to only then notice the puffy red circles beneath his eyes. He had obviously been up to late the night before.

"Not a clue." Ron muttered cupping his own mug of hangover medicine, eyeing it distastefully. "What in bloody hell do they put in this?"

"Frog bladders." Fred offered.

"Toad tentacles." George tried.

"Seaweed, heart of newt, and some other less appealing things." Hermione muttered taking another savory sip of her orange juice, trying to wash out the taste of the hangover potion.

"Ick… Well, cheers." Ron muttered with a pale face as he held his mug up and chugged it. It only took three seconds for him to jump up and run for the trashcan.

"If you throw it up, it won't work. After it's entered your mouth your body won't accept another dose." Ginny advised her brother who had his hand over his mouth and was trying not to let anything spew out.

"How much did we drink last night?" Harry asked, pulling everyone back to the subject Hermione had brought up.

"I think I had about seven muggle beers, two fire whiskeys, and I think you made me a martini." George said, turning to Fred who nodded, affirming his twins suspicions. "I remember thinking it was damn good."

"I remember Hermione chugging that fire whiskey, then throwing the mug in my face." Ron grumbled into the trashcan, sending a glance to the brunette who looked innocently out the window, as if not hearing his statement.

"Where did you two sleep last night?" Hermione asked the twins who both had a piece of toast held up to their awaiting mouths.

George opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Fred. "Why…? Do you remember what happened last night?"

"Oh course. I was just wondering if daft's like you who drink so often haven't lost most of your brain cells and the ability to remember such events." She retorted as her migrane spiked at the tone of Fred's voice. For some reason just sitting near him was pissing her off. She hated lying, but the situation seemed to call for it, for what ever reasons she couldn't decide.

"Well 'daft's' like me, build up an immunity after some time, so there's no way that I wouldn't remember last night." He replied sharply earning the suspicious glances of his peers and siblings.

"So what did happen last night?" Ginny asked rubbing her own head as if that would suddenly bring back all the events of the previous night.

No one answered as various, blurred memories came seeping back to certain individuals from their escapades earlier.

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**A/N: It would seem skateboarders attempting to censor romance novels (Rob Dyderk or something's, Fantasy Factory) has caught my attention and rendered me unable to write more at the moment.**

**PS: Oh god. I keep finding mistakes in this so I keep reuploading this and switching it over chapter 1. I have done this 6 times now… no joke. Next time I should just have my friend beta it before hand. XD**


	2. The Candidates Aren't Too Appealing

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, it's all belongs to Sensei-Rowling.**

**B/N: Hey guys… I know, I know. Chapter one sucked flying monkey ass, but hey, it was thrown together quickly and the plot is so cliché it would make the 'Original-Story-Fairies' cry in pain… ONWARD TO THE CLICHÉ STORY, CHAPTER TWO! HUZZAH!**

**Side Note: I didn't explain in the last chapter, but this is right before 7****th**** year. Voldemort was killed a couple years back (pipe bomb or something of the like) and they're about to go back to Hogwarts as regular witches and wizards would. Ginny and Luna are going to be 6****th**** years. Fred and George have their shop up and running, but they paid some temporary employee's to run it with the occasional supervision of their father when he had time off to spare while on vacation.**

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After the wild antics of the previous night being awkwardly pushed to the back of their minds, the group decided to head into the small local town off of England's western coast where they were currently staying. It was a wizard community disguised so well that it looked like a regular muggle community except this wizarding village allowed the muggles to roam freely unaware of the amazing people around them. It was a hit place for wizard researchers to study their unmagical counterparts in a comfortable environment.

Hermione was still in a semi-bad mood even while surrounded by nostalgic muggle surroundings, such as children getting ice cream with their parents (not those crazy flavors that exploded in your mouth, though), old couples perched on benches to feed the local birds (normal, muggle birds. Wizard and witch couples preferred to feed exotic animals like tamed hippogriffs and baby dragons), and groups of teenagers all moving in herds on their own summer vacations.

Occasionally a muggle male would wander up to one of the girls and try to start a conversation, but was quickly scared away by the looks the boys gave them. The local muggle females were too timid to try anything like that and would just giggle from the sides.

It was a peaceful town, and that was just what they wanted. Some place they could stay incognito for a while. A place where not everyone would stare at Harry like he was from the circus, but they would be close enough to fellow wizards if something were to happen.

While most of the group was immersed in looking around at the locally made trinkets that muggle employees made for their wizard run shops, Hermione found herself caught up in examining her posse suspiciously.

This was a very big matter in terms of the problems she was usually faced with.

Whoever she had slept with the night before had taken 'it'. The one thing she promised herself she wouldn't do till she got married. She was going to wait and be abstinent like a good girl, since she herself hated girls who were loose and gave it up while still in school.

Yet there it went, in just one night.

It only took one night, three fire whiskeys, and two muggle beers to make her forget everything, including her own self restraint.

Harry was immediately knocked off the list of possible subjects. He was one of her two best friends, and even if he was drunk they would never do it. When it came to friendship they were drawn together like a magnet, but they had always been to different to find a different kind of comfort in each others embraces. Not to mention he had obviously gotten a little intense with Luna, seeing as the two were keeping their distance, but at the same time could hardly keep from sneaking glances at the other. Definitely not Harry.

Neville had been in her private bathroom when she awoke, but she had remembered he was out after half a glass of muggle vodka. Neville Longbottom was the poster child for light weights everywhere. She could recall he had wandered off down the hall after everyone told him to just go to bed. She bet he had become sick halfway there, and since

Fred was in the hallway bathroom at the time, he had just ran to her bedroom's side bathroom.

Technically her room was supposed to be shared by all three girls, but the youngest agreed to share an extra guest room since Hermione was older and had to study for end of the year exams.

Hermione's eyes wandered over to Ron and she felt a deep feeling at the bottom of her stomach. She prayed she had not done such a thing with Ron. He was her other best friend and she had known he had had a 'thing' for her for a couple years. She had even had a huge crush on him as well, but when Lavander had stepped into the picture, she had found Ron to aim his sights too low. She felt a twinge of old pain as she watched him eye a nearby teenager who he knew wouldn't give him the time of day. The crush had lowered to a scabbed over wound but even then she could feel it sting occasionally. She didn't need it to go deeper from doing it with him when she wasn't even sure of his feelings anymore.

The twins stopped to examine a nearby stall full of muggle pranks and magic trick accessories. She had never stopped to consider the two as possible mates, boyfriends, toys, or anything of the sort. They were just 'The Weasley Twins'. Sure they were cute with their equally curly red hair and face spotted generously with a big helping of freckles, but they were very immature. George was like a sneaky kitten and looked the more adorable of the two, but once you got to know him you found out he was the one who turned your favorite pair of pants a yellow so bright it would momentarily blind you if you looked to long.

Fred on the other hand… Fred had changed in the past couple months. A few months ago she would have considered him a sly puppy who would enjoy chewing your slippers and hiding them under the bed only so you could find them weeks later, then he'd give you those big, innocent eyes, and get out of it scot-free. Though if she was to look at him now she would think of him more as a wolf in sheep's clothing. He still looked cute and cheerful on the outside, but when their eyes met, for just half a second, his expression would go from kind to cold instantly.

When it first happened she had just thought nothing of it, seeing as she had confiscated one of their hand delivered products to one of the Hogwarts students before school ended for the summer.

Fred had been perfectly fine that morning, joking and laughing, tousling her hair as he usually did when he met the little genius on their territory, Gryffindor tower. Everyone had been happily talking to the twins to see how they were after they had dropped out and opened their shop. George quietly tried to slip Seamus their latest product, Purple Pimple

Pus Poppers Pie (a food shaped like a pie that caused purple pimples to sprout about your face and pop disgusting purple goo out the moment you touched them) but Hermione caught him in the act, discarding the item promptly.

She had pulled Fred out to the hall, since he was the one who had been trying to distract her while they made the pay off. At the back of her mind she should have been more concerned with the fact that George was left back inside with Seamus, but Fred had been the one to give her the biggest devious grin.

It had only taken a moment for her to get in his face with a warning to stop bringing rule breaking products into her dorm. He just stared at her silently as she ranted, occasionally running her hand through her hair.

Don't take it the wrong way. It wasn't like she disliked Fred or George, or really anyone that wasn't a total bastard or bitch to her. It was just that she had just pulled an all nighter, the other prefect, Ron, wasn't trying to stop his brothers from passing out their shop's wares, and she had caught a slight cold. Her cheeks and nose were bright red, her eyes were puffy from lack of sleep, and she had barely had time to brush her hair down when hurrying to stop the twins from their actions. She knew if they were caught by any of the teachers they wouldn't be allowed back in Hogwarts for up to three years which would make everyone very depressed. They knew the rule of course, but they were immature adults who felt as if a thing like that could never happen.

Somewhere during her rant she had said something that had offended him to the point his expression shifted from amused, having heard the lecture before, to a look of possible disdain and annoyance. She would have stopped dead in her speech if she hadn't known that it would give away the fact she was surprised.

After that he stopped smiling at her. He stopped tousling her hair and talking to her. When she tried to meet his eyes he would be interested in everything but her. So she decided that if he was going to give her the cold shoulder, he'd get the same treatment.

Which was exactly what was happening at that moment.

So the possible candidates where:

1.) Ron Weasley. Youngest male of the Weasley's. Ex-crush of Hermione's. Gulible and somewhat (AN: *cough* extremely) slow.

2.) George Weasley. Twin of Fred Weasley. The kitten with the soul of a fox.

3.) Fred Weasley. Twin of George Weasley. The used-to-be puppy with eyes of innocence.

She gave an inward sigh at her unfortunate life involving men.

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**A/N: No way! Did I seriously just type another chapter, right after posting a chapter yesterday? Have you seen any pigs flying today? Another short one but hey, know I've… um… set the setting… and plotted the plot… oh hush. I try.**

Beta Reader Note: Obviously not on spelling...or grammar, for that matter.

… **Baka! It was only 1... Or 2... Okay, just because I can't spell Weasley correctly doesn't mean I have bad grammar!**


	3. The Drama King

**Disclaimer: Copyright belongs to J.K. Rowling and her publishing company. I just twist it up in my own cliché way, a bit.**

**B/N: Hey guys! I finally thought of a plot and it will make this story longer than initially intended (great, just what I need. Another long story that in progress… sorry to the readers who have read my other craptastic stories). It'll include 1 OC ("Wow! Only 1? How do you do it, Phantom?"), Hogwarts (Duuuuuuh!), and Fred interning… (Okwut?) So get ready and hold on to your broomsticks!**

…

It was a week before summer vacation ended and Hermione was still answerless, pissed, and ultimately tired which was seeming to be her usual mood lately when she was alone from everyone else. In front of them she held up the guise of her younger days, spunky, know-it-all, and a very honest kind of girl. Which part of her still was.

But when she was left to herself she felt a weight settle on top of her, crushing out all the good things and only leaving a painful, angsty, pile of crap where her usual childhood personality used to be.

She figured she was a bit depressed due to the fact that the threat of Voldemort was passed and she was no longer important to anyone, or so she thought. She was useful at helping Harry and all her friends at figuring out the disgusting, snake-fetished, creeper's plans. She could hold her own in a fight and could recall the list of ingredients in a healing potion in less than two seconds.

Now she was _just_ Hermione. _Just_ the smartest witch of her age. _Just_ a magically infused teenager who had given her virginity up to some dim-witted drunk peer (or ex-peer in Fred and George's case).

She shook her head trying to clear her depressing thoughts and instead move on to her angry thoughts, which didn't sting as bad as the sadder ones tended to. At least when she was angry she could vent on objects or people. When you're sad you cry until you fall asleep, or someone walks in on you.

She had already come to the conclusion that when she identified the criminal who committed the robbery of her innocence that she would castrate him and send the severed genitals to Antarctica where they would be devoured by rabid sea lions.

She grinned in thought but was stopped short when someone knocked on her door.

Ron peaked his head in seconds before Hermione wiped her evil smirk off her face. "What's going on?" She asked him as he pushed the door open to stand fully in the doorframe.

"If your bags are all packed, we're all ready to go." He replied motioning for them to leave. She nodded, standing up and flicking her wand towards her pile of belongings sitting underneath a window, all of which had neatly organized contents. Within moments they were midair and floating out the door like a small precession, down the hall to rest in front of the back door. From there on out they'd have to be carried so as to not alert the muggles in the community to the use of magic.

Since Neville had a nasty problem with getting sick while apparating, they were planning on trekking into the woods to the town's permanent portkey for their travel home.

Before leaving they locked up, bid the quant vacation home adieu, and set off into the woods that started at the edge of the back yard.

Overall they had spent a month there, not drinking near as much as they did those first couple days, and over time the awkwardness of that night disappeared from everyone, but Hermione's mind.

Luna and Harry were finally walking side-by-side, neither one making a move, but the brunette had a feeling Luna would be the more bold when it came to a relationship. Ron and Neville had discovered a similar interest in betting on quidditch games (Hermione smelt a gambling addiction on the horizon but she felt it would be best to leave Ron to his own devices). Neville may have been a bit bumbling at everything he did, but when it came to betting there was no smarts needed. Neville was just really, REALLY lucky. Hermione wondered if it was karma trying to make up for his parent's, but again she didn't say anything.

Ginny had managed to coax Neville into talking to her more about himself which made Hermione think of Ginny as being very brave and kind. It wasn't school known, but most all the Gryffindor's knew of Neville's problematic family. The fact that she was willing to listen to him about his traumatic childhood was enough to raise Hermione's respect for the girl considerably.

The twins had succeeded in breaking a couple local girl's hearts, prank some of the town football players, and release all the animals from the towns pet shop. They were both happy, but Fred was still not on speaking, looking, or even registering Hermione's existence, terms.

They moved steadily through the woods, Neville slipping occasionally, Luna talking about some creature that could turn seeds into candy, and the twins laughing hysterically about something inconsequential.

As they reached the portkey they were partially surprised to find a young boy they didn't recognize crouched beside it, examining it silently. Upon noticing the group approaching he gave them a charming smile that made the female's skip a beat.

He was tall with jet black hair (darker than even Harry's if that was possible) that was shoulder-length long and jagged with white tips. His skin was a pretty tan color, and he had an exotic air about him that made you wonder if he had an accent. He had deep blue eyes and perfectly straight teeth, with an equally perfect nose that complimented his features. He was wearing jeans, a pair of shiny white tennis shoes, and a blue and bronze colored vest over his white, long-sleeved shirt.

At first they were weary that he was a muggle teenager since he was unfamiliar, that was, until they noticed his vest had the Ravenclaw emblem on it. Their looks of suspicion quickly changed to relief then to friendliness as they approached the stranger.

"Hello." Harry said, daring to speak the first words. He dropped his items and extended his hands politely.

The tall boy looked down at Harry, and after a moment clasped his hand with a smile. "Well hello there." He replied with a thick Australian accent on his words. "You all headin' to Hogwarts?"

"Yep, are you a first year?" Ron asked, somewhat skeptical of the likeliness of him being 11. The boy chucked with a deep laugh that made the girl's involuntarily blush. They all glanced at each other before glancing at the ground. It was obvious that he was one of those guys who could probably get any girl he wanted.

"I recently transferred from Durmstrang since my family moved to England this summer. Would you mind if I traveled with you back to Diagon Alley?"

Harry glanced around at his friends before turning back and nodding, "I don't think that will be a problem."

"So what's your name?" Fred and George asked simultaneously.

"Oh, where are my manners." The boy said dramatically which made him look very graceful and cute. "My name is Aadyn Hastings. I am a 7th year who was graced with the placement in the Ravenclaw house."

"Cool." Ron said giving the boy a slap on the back in a stereotypical 'guy' way. "Then we should be having some classes together."

"Very 'cool' indeed." The boy said, giving a sly look towards Hermione for half a second. Or was it just her imagination? After giving him a quick once over she decided it was her imagination. No guy that handsome would be likely to look at a girl like her anytime soon.

"Well then, shall we be going" Fred asked moving around his group to near the town's permanent portkey that would take them to a portkey entrance in Diagon Alley.

"Yes, lets." George agreed, moving around on the opposite side to join him.

'_Boys. Always eager to leave the presence of a cuter one._" Hermione thought with an inward sigh at the twins.

The group gathered around the portkey and on the count of 3, touched it simultaneously.

After a gut wrenching, wind whipping journey that was similar to apparating but not as violent in motions, they landed in good old Diagon Alley.

After a farewell from their new classmate Aadyn they began their journey to a floo powder entrance to make their way back to the burrow and begin their shopping for the new term.

….

**A/N: Short I know, but I'm proud that I'm actually going with this story and I have a bit of a plot developing! Sorry if there's terrible spelling or grammar mistakes. My beta is a lazy butt-head and never e-mailed back (probably to busy sleeping, knowing her.)**

**I'm trying to decide if I should run for president of my school's writing club. XD**

**Recoloringworks(dot)blogspot(dot)com (This is just shameless advertising. A good friend of mine and I do this in our spare time)**


	4. Class Fail

**Disclaimer: Everything Harry Potter related belongs to J.K.R. I own Aadyn though. Mmm.**

**B/N: So, I'm not really sure about the classes that 7th**** years (I've tried to research, but I can't find anything) so I'm going off of 6****th**** year class possibilities. Also, I would like to emphasize on one point. Does anyone know Bill from Tokio Hotel? If you do, then do you know when (before his mohawk) he had his hair down, not all spiky. That's similar to Aadyn's hair. Black with white tips. Really tall, skinny… Mmmm.**

_**I think I'm going to start writing replies to your reviews, starting with my most recent one.**_

**_To: "I don't hug trees. They hug me" - Lol, yes. Plotyness! And I love your username! XD_**

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A hand trailed down the center of Hermione's stomach, making a circle around her belly button before descending upon her panties. She squirmed as the fingers gently peeled the soft fabric from her smooth feeling lower body. Hermione buried her face against the hollow of his neck and clung her arms, which were wrapped around his neck, tighter to him.

He pressed his face against her hair, chuckling as she tensed up with ever second that his fingers hovered near her lower regions. He took a deep breath, enjoying the smell of her honeysuckle scented shampoo washed hair. For a little bit they just laid there, Hermione dazed as she quietly memorized the masculine smell of the man above her.

The peace only lasted for a little bit, but was quickly broken as Hermione released a loud gasp, gripping to him shakily. Slowly his middle finger pressed into her, sliding with ease that made her shudder and twist beneath him. Slowly he pushed a second one in earning him a soft moan from the brunette. Suddenly he found a layer of skin deep inside her that was blocking his path. His eyes widened as he suddenly pulled out causing Hermione to arch her back against the sudden pull.

She heard him say something but it came out as a husky mumble that was unrecognizable.

Hermione awoke with a start, breathing heavily as she unclenched her fingers that had been digging into her sheets. Slowly she sat up blushing as she felt her sticky bedding cling to her thighs.

"Shit." She muttered as she climbed out of bed, only to fall back on before she could gain her footing. The dream had left her week kneed and hot all over.

She took a couple minutes trying to fix her problem but gave up when she couldn't reach an orgasm.

Grumbling angrily with sexual frustration digging at every inch of her, she was finally able to calm down enough to hurry off to the showers before anyone else would wake.

Voices carried out to the commons as she slumped down from her personal prefect chambers. Everyone gave her surprised looks expecting her to be up much earlier than what it was. She glanced at an antique upon the fireplaces mantle and felt a jolt of surprise. Breakfast was just finishing and she was just now getting up, save for the time she took cleaning up and getting dressed.

"You feeling okay, Hermione?" Neville asked as she tottered down the steps with her daily set of books in hand, looking as cheerful as a dead flower.

"Nothing. I'm fine Neville." She lied, quickly passing him to stand near the Gryffindor's common room exit. "Come on guys. Get your things and let us be off." Everyone gave each other quick looks before finally shrugging and collecting their things. After doing a quick check in both towers to make sure no one was still sleeping, she walked out the room, welcoming the prospect of starting her last year.

She gave herself a small smile as she walked down the hall at a quick pace. She wondered where Harry and Ron had wandered off to without her, when she met Collin Creevey, camera in hand, peeking around a nearby corner of the hall. She walked up behind him and tapped him on the back to gain his attention.

"Why aren't you going to class, Collin?" She questioned, giving him a suspicious look. It wasn't uncommon for Collin to get so caught up with his photography that he forgot to get to class before time was up.

"Sorry, Hermione, but I found a model and I just had to take his picture!" The boy said with a giddy look on his face. She had always wondered if his door swung the 'other' way, but this seemed to be more of a picture-geeking moment. She peered around the corner with him, curious to see who could work up Collin that much when she met face to face with Aadyn.

"Oh, morning Hermione. Beautiful day, no?" Aadyn asked directing her attention to the wide window panes that looked out over the courtyard and out onto the lake. She had to admit, he had found one of the better views from the old castle windows.

"Hello Aadyn. What are you doing up in this part of the castle?" She asked with the same suspicious tone she had given Collin upon questioning him.

He gave her a charming smile that made her grip the stone wall a bit harder as she remained half hidden behind it. "I was waiting for you believe it or not. Headmistress McGonagall informed me that you would be the most adept at showing me to our first class, since it's a joint class with Ravenclaw. Shall we walk?"

Hermione nodded her agreement as she moved around the corner and began walking alongside the ridiculously tall boy. She gave a quick glance back at Collin that told him to move to his next class before she mentioned something Peeve's about a forgetful student that needed a bit of tormenting.

As they walked together silently, she wondered why McGonagall had sent him to her, when there were brilliant Ravenclaw 7th years that could take him. She only pondered on it for a moment before they reached two large wooden doors. She was happy to find that she was two minutes early before the doors opened to her Ancient Runes class. Harry and Ron were walking up to the doors at the same time Hermione and Aadyn arrived.

"Hey Hermione. Hi. Aadyn, right? Nice to see you again." Harry said formally which earned a smile from the new boy.

"Harry. Ron." He said to each boy giving them a slight nod and a smile. Just as he was about to say something else, Seamus and Dean jumped over and started talking noisily with their fellow Gryffindor guys. Hermione and Aadyn took a step back to let the boisterous boys speak while they themselves conversed. Hermione was pleased to discover another book enthusiast with as much experience regarding classic literature as she did.

Professor Babbling opened the door just as the great clock struck time for classes to commence. As per usual, one house sat on one side, the other on the opposite. Hermione sat first row to get a better view of the class and was surprised to see Aadyn sitting just opposite of the aisle to her.

Every couple minutes she noticed him staring at her, but he would turn away as soon as their eyes met. She felt her face grow red whenever it happened, but she'd quickly return her attention to the class.

'_Foreign guys,_' she thought as she shuffled in her seat to straighten her posture, "_why do they always have to be so cute_."

"Miss Granger?" A questioning voice called above her thoughts dragging her reluctantly back to reality.

"Yes ma'am?" Hermione answered as her teacher stood in front of her with a confused face.

"I'm surprised. By now you should have been waving your hand to answer any number of my questions." Professor Babbling said pointing her wand at the strange shapes on the board. "Can you read this for the class since the only who's volunteered for anything has been Mr. Hastings."

Hermione hid her look of surprise, having not even noticed anything outside her daydreaming, which was so unnatural she wondered if she should visit Madame Pomfrey before going to lunch. "It says 'When you find something great, shadow's always lie behind.'." She was startled by how ominous the passage sounded.

"Thank you, Miss Granger." Professor Babbling said with a strained smile that made the girl wonder if she had disappointed her teacher. The past couple weeks she had been feeling out of it, ever since they got back from trip. She was still clueless to the wanker who took her virginity and wouldn't fess up. All she knew is one of the Weasley's was so dead.

"Hermione are you feeling well?" Harry asked, addressing the question most everyone in the class was thinking.

"I'm fine Harry. I'm just a bit tired is all." She muttered turning her full attention to the front of the class as their Professor gained her bearings.

"She did wake up late." Neville comment towards the back of the room, as if to help reinforce her statement.

She let her eyes glance over at Aadyn for a split second, their eyes meeting, making Hermione's heart take off in flight.

…………………………

"Mr. Weasley," Headmistress McGonagall said, giving the red headed boy a look of approval and slight curiosity. "I never did expect you to go come back, what with your shop being set up and all."

"Yes, Ms M., it was somewhat difficult to leave, but my brother's known about my ambitions for a while now." The Weasley brother gave the elderly woman a sly smile that neither alarmed her, nor made her feel relaxed. It was his usual look but it seemed a bit more serious today.

"Well, welcome back to Hogwarts, and congratulations on your post as interning with Madame Hooch to become a flying instructor and quidditch referee. I do hope you won't get into to much trouble while with us, Fred."

"No worries, Headmistress. I'll be as well behaved as Sir Nicholas himself." Fred replied still smiling as he excused himself from her office.

"Hah. Peeves is more like it." She said shaking her head as she turned her attention back to a stack of paperwork. It was going to be an interesting year, to be sure.

………………………………

**A/N: I wasn't planning for Fred to enter yet, but I want this story to actually progress instead of just sugar coating every chapter. Haha. No beta again this time, so sorry for mistakes… I need to find a dedicated beta reader. Anyone interested? Don't be afraid to message me! I want one or two!**


	5. Stop PMSing, Malfoy

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Harry Potter world, only Aadyn.**

**B/N: It's that time again folks! When I throw this random chapter at you and hope it's enough to last me for a bit.**

**Shout-out replies to:**

_**Smithback - Thanks! Your comment made me really, really happy!**_

_**I don't hug trees. They hug me - PSH. Mysterious? Me? I have a horrible lack of suspicion and mystery, which is a reason I went and added Fred's name with Hermione's in the story summary. (No secrets shall be revealed as of yet. I am working on one thing, but it's probably gonna be obvious since I'm so full of cheese. Mozzarella not cheddar.) And for all I know, Analogy was the perfect word of choice!**_

………………………………

_Sunday Morning, November 7th _**(I'm going off 2010's November, not 1998's.)**

To be honest, Hermione hated flying almost as much as she hated Voldemort. Barely.

But that was pretty high on her list of things she really didn't enjoy. Ever.

So that made her happiness level zero when she was told she had to retake flying lessons. Completely.

She got the notification from a school owl about a month into the school's resumption. At first she wondered if it was just the Headmistress sending her an message about prefect rounds like she had done the first couple weeks. The woman had become exceptionally busy lately and only had spare time to eat in the dining room with the staff and students, which meant it would be rare if Hermione got called to her office for prefect business. No one had yet been set up to help look over those duties so the Headmistress still held on to them.

Yet when she saw the seal of Madame Hooch she wondered what the quidditch referee could possibly want with her. For a moment she flipped it over and over, looking for Harry or Ron's name, but it clearly had her own scrawled across the front of it in neat cursive. The usual, school issued green ink almost matched her skin color after she read it.

_Miss Granger,_

_I sent this to inform you that, based on your first years performance handing a broomstick we at the flying and quidditch division of the school, feel you need a bit more practice. The Headmistress has agreed that on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after classes, your prefect duties will be to report to the quidditch field. Our new intern will take up the task of tutoring you. _

_Sincerely,_

_Madame Hooch_

Hermione's head whipped up to look at Professor McGonagall, but felt cheated when she realized the woman had already snuck out of the room. She knew if she went after her about it, the older woman would find steady ways to avoid the brilliant girl, regardless of where they were.

She was infuriated that they were replacing her prefect duties just for tutoring on broomstick flying.

Thousands of feet in the air.

She felt sick.

She ran out of the Great Hall, hand over mouth, sprinting for the closest bathroom. Luckily there had been one constructed close to the Hall's doors so when first years ate the Tuesday surprise for the first time they wouldn't spew all over the walls while trying to find one.

Pushing past some lower classman, she dove into a stall and wretched painfully as the thoughts of being airborne raced through her head.

She would rather kiss a Death Eater then touch a broom.

After she finished she pulled her wand from her pocket and quickly waved it at the mess whispering a common cleaning spell, before hastily pointing it at herself.

She sighed as she leaned her head back against the door, too embarrassed to step out just yet and face the students she felt would be watching her every step. Finally she knew she couldn't wait any longer and slowly pushed the door open. Ginny stood to the back of the room with a group of girls talking nervously. When she noticed her friend she sprang forward to check on her.

"Hermione? Oh gosh, are you okay? I saw someone run past but I didn't think it was you." The red headed girl quickly proceeded to press her hand against the older girls forehead, checking for a temperature.

"It's fine Ginny. It's just… I have to retake my flying lessons again." She said, holding her hand up to her mouth just incase. She was relived to not be feeling nauseous again.

"Oh, that sucks Hermione." The 6th year said, not really sure how to react. Her family was full of quidditch enthusiasts, including herself. To them, there was nothing better than being high in the sky, circling a quidditch pitch and spiraling downhill as fast as a meteor. "Want me to go ask Madame Pomfrey for some flight-sick medicine?" Ginny offered as she wrapped her arm around Hermione's to lead her out of the bathroom and toward the Nurses Ward. Hermione quickly pulled back and attempted to wave off Ginny's worry.

"I'll be fine. I'll just tell them I prefer apparating over flying. I should be okay." She said, trying to convince herself more so than her younger friend.

"Well, if you throw up on Madame Hooch, she should let you off without having to fly." Said Lavender, who had been eavesdropping on her conversation. Hermione gave her a 'you're-kidding-me-right?' look that made the girl grin. "Just sayin'."

………………………………

_Sunday Afternoon, November 7__th_

The sun was finally setting on another peaceful night in the old castle that creaked with cold when the wind blew at a certain angle. Hermione pulled her robe tighter around her in an attempt to shield a particularly nasty blast of air from hitting her. It was quiet and she was making a slow return to the Gryffindor common room.

She had been doing her Arithmancy homework in the solitude of a calm library corner, when she realized it was already five o'clock. It was time for her to help Harry and Ron with their History of Magic essays due the next day for Professor Binns. The boys had begged her to wait until Sunday to start so they could play with the first years to see if any of them were good enough to make the team like Harry had. She had a feeling they would be a bit depressed at the lack of inborn talent Harry had been lucky enough to have.

As Hermione rounded a particularly dark corner she found her nose jamming into the back of a long black robe. Half filled with excitement of the prospect of seeing Aadyn she jumped back and looked the perpetrator in the face.

Draco Malfoy was glaring down at her as if she was a speck of mud on his shoes, and for all she knew that was how thought of her. A speck of Mudblood, on his new Air Jordan shoes.

"Oh look. A pest has wandered over." He said with a mean grin on his face while Crabbe and Goyle gave ugly sounding laughs in the background.

"Oh Malfoy. I'm not a mirror, you stupid git." She spat back, quickly walking around him to continue her march down the hall.

"What was that Granger?" He growled whipping his wand out and pointing it in challenge. He seemed a bit testier than normal.

"Nothing Malfoy. If you're PMSing, Madame Pomfrey should have a remedy to reduce your bitchiness." She stopped for a moment, turning to give him a quick once over with her eyes. "On second though, maybe not."

"Why you stupid little mudblood!" Draco shouted pointing directly at her as he shouted, "_Petrificus Tota-_"

He was stopped mid-spell by a quick kick in the face by a long leg and a steel-toed boot. Aadyn stood over Malfoy giving him a look of discontent. "Dirty full-blood." Giving him another good kick for safe measure, he approached Hermione with a smile to make sure she was okay.

"Cute face and a sharp tongue. Nice." He grinned when she blushed and wrapped his arm around her waist to lead her away from the trio of Slytherin's.

Malfoy slowly stumbled to his feet, wand still in hand as he retried the spell, this time on Aadyn. Before he could get the second part past his lips Aadyn had spun on his heel and cast his own Full Body-Bind spell on his fellow 7th year.

Draco dropped to the floor like a tranquilized bull.

'_Steaming pile of bullshit was more like it_' Hermione thought giving him an annoyed look.

And so ended the confrontation, with Aadyn leading a surprisingly pleased Hermione back to the Gryffindor tower, and two blundering boys to try to figure out how to drag their friend back to the dungeons.

"That was amazing, Aadyn." Hermione said once they had left earshot of Crabbe and Goyle. "You're so fast with your spells."

"And your kicks." A woman in a portrait who had been watching commented with her own amount of impress from the boy's strength.

"It was nothing. I can't help myself when I see a pretty girl about to be hexed." He said giving a dramatic shrug that made her heart beat a bit harder.

"Thank you for helping me. If not, I probably would have been shoved in a closet for the rest of the night." Hermione said, twirling her fingers in a couple strands of her hair.

Wait. She was twirling her hair?

She quickly snapped her hand down in confusion of her actions. She never twirled her hair, no matter how much she had liked a guy in the past.

"Well, I'm glad to have been of service." He clasped her hand and raised it to her lips giving her a pair of smiling eyes as he kissed the backside. "See you around... Hermione." He said the last word like it was a special secret that only the two of them knew.

As he trotted away gracefully, Hermione leaned against a suit of armor looking at the back of her hand in surprise. Maybe this year wasn't going to be so bad, even if she had messed up the summer already.

………………………………

_Monday Afternoon, November 8__th_

Hermione trudged down the path towards the quidditch pitch with the speed of a man heading to Azkaban for the rest of his life. In other words, she was less than pleased. If pleased had a slutty sister who party crashed family reunions and ruined pleased's day constantly, then she would be pleased.

The fact that she never made it past the stadium's walls to the field was just one factor of this. She found one of the big, red, leather quidditch balls making a straight shot for her face, much faster than she could react.

She passed out on impact.

………………………………

**A/N: Oh goodness… I must like this story… a lot… I've never written this many chapters for 1 thing in a month. Hehe!**

**Sorry I never write long chapters. I get out everything I think up in one go (cause I don't plan anything. I plan the beginning, a few scenes in the middle, and the end, and see what happens), so here's another one-go kind of thing.**


	6. Quidditch Balls & Broomsticks

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter. I only own Aadyn.**

**B/N: Hey guys. Chapter 6! New poll on my profile!**

**To Smithback: Jijijij?**

………………………………

_Monday Afternoon, November 8__th_

Lips pressed against the nape of her neck making her breathe in the scent of her first lovers hair. Cinnamon. He smelled like fresh cinnamon, which made her feel safe and warm.

Curly. Red. Soft. Big hands. Bigger smile. A tongue that could create wildfires anywhere it touched. A body that could make her skin turn red with just the lightest brush against each other.

She wanted to lay in his arms forever. He wrapped his arms around her and held her closer to his chest which was smooth and seemed to leave just enough room for her own body to curl up beside him.

The room smelled like cinnamon and sex.

Hermione's eyes flung open as her body jumped up looking around frantically. She was lying on a cot in the nursing wing of the school where Madame Pomfrey watched over the sick with a careful eye.

Slowly the events of her previous march to death row, aka the quidditch pitch, had been swiftly interrupted by a large, red ball to the face. She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked around trying to locate the time only to be frustrated when no clocks were present.

Carefully she stood up and examined her face in a mirror on the stand beside her, someone had been thoughtful enough to leave. Her nose looked like it had been broken, but quickly repaired via Madame Pompfrey. She had a slight cut that was disappearing on her left cheek.

She had a painful headache that would have fueled her anger, had she not had such a dream. It wasn't as sexual as the last one. The last one had been before sex. This one had been after sex.

Thinking back on it she had to clutch her chest which squeezed painfully as she remembered how gentle the guy had been before and after. Who ever he was, he had feather fingers and a cute smile.

"Hermione? You're up?" A voice called from the entrance of the wing. She gave a quick look around to make sure no one was sleeping and would be awoken from a conversation. No one else was in the wing, so that meant it was okay to talk normally.

"Hey Ron. What happened?" She asked as she looked under the side table for her robe which she could easily slid on over her clothes. She tried not to notice all the blood that soaked her t-shirt from when her nose had broken.

"You were hit in the face with a quidditch ball." He said, earning a 'oh-really?' face from her. "Er, well. That's what I heard anyways. No one's sure who threw it since no one was on the field at the time. Someone noticed you get hit and collapse on the ground." Ron said in a matter-of-fact kind of way that made look at him confused.

Hermione slipped her feet into her shoes and walked towards Ron who had been standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. He seemed so out of place with the rows of beds and large glass window panes that framed the walls.

"Are you sure Madame Pomfrey is okay with you leaving just yet?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, I feel relatively fine." She said before turning around and walking out of the room alongside her.

She stopped as they reached the nearest set of stairs. "What time is it?"

"About seven. You were unconscious for an hour. The Gryffindor tower voted me to be the one to come see how you were. They all would have came, but with that research report, potions book work, and essay on the effects of Faerie Mint leaves, no one could really spare a moment." Ron said giving her a pleading look that begged her to help him when they got back.

"Fine." She replied as they started off again down the changing staircases. They moved in silence, both lost in their own set of thoughts until a realization hit Hermione. "Ron. Back when we where at Bill's vacation house for the summer… That night that we all got a bit out of hand, do you remember what you did?"

He looked at her for a moment before staring off into space with a frustrated look. "Not really. All I remember is waking up feeling _really_ relaxed." He put an extra emphasis on the 'really' which made Hermione feel very uneasy.

"Oh, I see."

"Why, something happen?"

"No, no. I was just wondering what everyone did after I went to sleep." She said shaking her head tiredly, her headache pounding behind her temples.

Wordlessly, they continued their ascent back to the Gryffindor common rooms.

……………………………….

_Wednesday Morning, November 10__th_

Hermione rounded a corner of the castle, just in time to see Peeves peeking around the corner of another turn at the end of the hall. This was odd because Peeve's wasn't a peeker. He was a prankster.

If Peeves was nervous or curious about something, it usually meant trouble which, just the thought of, caused a sigh to escape her lips.

Surprisingly, Peeves didn't notice her and begin causing a racket. Instead he stared intently around the corner. Slowly she approached and peered around the corner to see what could interest the ghost so much. She watched as a bit of black looking hair disappeared around a corner at the end of that corridor. She glanced up to look at Peeves, but he was already gone.

………………………………

_Wednesday Afternoon, November 10__th_

This time she was more cautious when heading towards the quidditch field's referee housing room. Her wand was drawn in hand and she kept towards the sparse tree's that could be found around the outer part of the grounds.

Thankfully she made it safe and sound.

Unthankfully she made it safe and sound.

"Well, well. Not unconscious this time I see!" Madame Hooch said with a smile as she watched Hermione walk up to the doors that led back to the locker rooms and her own office. She was leaning against one of the large stadium walls holding a broom stick and protective helmet. She had yet to forget Hermione's past days while handing a broomstick. "Didn't eat to much I hope? I don't want to have to go around cleaning up piles of puke."

"No ma'am." Hermione said in defeat. It was obvious Madame Hooch was planning on making her fly, nauseous or not.

But truth be told that the past couple mornings whenever she thought about being so high in the sky she found herself running for a toilet or wastepaper basket. She really regretted not asking Ginny for flight-sickness potion beforehand.

"Good. I've got some quidditch tryouts to review with Mr. Potter, so I'll leave it to our intern. He'll be here in a couple minutes after he finishes up some last minute paperwork. I'm sure you two will get along fairly well." Madame Hooch said as she dropped the broom on the ground a few feet in front of Hermione and gave her a wave before disappearing into the darkened locker rooms. Harry, who had been there all afternoon, peeked his head out the door Madame Hooch had just went into. He gave her an smile and a thumbs up before following the school's quidditch referee to begin fulfilling his duties as Gryffindor Quidditch Captain.

She stood outside, a speck among the huge towers that often held hundreds of screaming students. She stared up towards the top of the towers and clutched her stomach in case of a sudden fit.

"Oi. Stop gawking and pick up your broom." A familiar voice said as the back of a head of red hair zoomed past her and flew upwards. He did a few loops before circling back down and hanging in mid-air above her. "Well?"

"Fred?" She said, looking up at him in surprise. This was the first time he had really spoken to her in months, and here he was, the one telling her to get on a broom. She wondered if fate just liked dicking around with her, or if there was actually some overall plan in play.

'_Not likely._' She concluded as she walked away from the wall a bit to get a better look at him.

"Obviously." He replied before pointing down at her broom that lay lifeless at her feet. She glanced down at it before looking up at him with a less than happy expression.

"Let's not and say I did." She tried, earning a cold stare from him. If there wasn't anything she hated more, it was a friend acting like Draco Malfoy.

"Get on it and come on. I want to go scare some hufflepuffs in the towers." He said, regaining some of the old 'twin charm' that his brother and him were known well for.

"I… I don't really know how to ride a broom." It had been years since the last attempt, and even then she had only made it an inch off the ground before the broom spun around leaving her upside down and looking like a loony.

"Anyone can ride a broom." He said giving her an incredulous look that told her he wasn't in a patient mood. She wondered where the kind Fred she used to know went. The one who tousled her hair and gave her cheesy smiles when she caught him doing stupid things.

"Well I'm not Anyone. I am Hermione Jane Granger, and I don't know how to ride a broomstick. And may Merlin spell me down if I'm not!" She shouted angrily earning some looks from a couple second years who had been walking past the stands on their way back to the castle.

Fred sat silently for a moment before slowly moving downward before coming to a soft landing. He dismounted his broom, carrying it in his hand as he walked over to Hermione. He set it down on the ground then grabbed her hand.

It was big. Bigger than Harry or Ron's were, to be sure.

"Will it to rise." He instructed as he held out their hands over the broom. It reminded her of her first year when her and Ron had, had slight difficulties with it while Harry had been such a natural.

She stared at it for what seemed like minutes before it slowly raised upward and stopped at an even level for her. Before Hermione could even congratulate herself on being able to control a bit of the brooms movement, Fred had her waist in his grasp and lifted her onto the broom. He climbed on behind her and pulled her back to rest against his chest.

She was ready to faint from the too-close proximity. His chest was warm against her wind beaten back and his breath was in her ear.

"Okay." He said softly, his words tickling her earlobe. "Make it slowly raise in height. Slowly."

His arms wrapped around her's to grab the broom a couple centimeters in front of her. How could she will it to rise when Fred Weasley was so close and personal? Yet she felt her senses intense and her vision become slightly more refined. She accredited it to all the nerve endings that were suddenly aflame.

Instead of a slow rise upward they shot up fast and painfully. Hermione let out a scream and clutched onto the broom stick as Fred tried to gain control. The broom shook around unsure of who's instructions to follow. Hermione was shaking and wishing to be back on the ground, while Fred was trying to keep it airborne.

"Hermione! Hermione!" He shouted wrapping his right arm around her upper body while his left still clutched onto the handle. "Calm down. You're okay."

Those words sounded strangely familiar. Yet she was immediately relaxed by his voice.

"Sorry." She whispered as her fingers trembled uncontrollably.

"It's fine. See?" He said as they sat in the air, looking around at the scene below. The covered bridge sat in front of them with the snow-tipped mountains in the background. To her right was the castle, tall and regal looking mirrored in the lake to her left. She knew if they circled around she'd be looking over the forbidden forest.

A couple third or fourth years were watching them, a few pointing in interest. Fred barked at them to bugger off, sending them scattering in shock. It wasn't until that moment she realized they were the size of ants. The broom rocked around for another moment before Fred was clutching onto her tightly again.

"Hermione! We're fine! I won't let anything happen to you."

"This is too high." She whispered, her knuckles turning white as she gritted her teeth in fear.

The broom inched downward slowly so as not to alarm her. Before long they were only three feet off the ground and away from the prying eyes of others.

"Better?" He asked as Hermione opened her eyes to look around.

"Much." She whispered.

"Okay. Today we'll fly around at this level for a bit." He said releasing his arms from around her and giving her free reign. Like this he could control the height while she controlled the direction and speed.

Before long flying at three feet was a piece of cake for her.

When her feet finally touched ground she almost collapsed and began kissing it, but decided Fred would only tease her for it.

Or not. He had gone back to his icy stares and cold shoulder attitude.

"Next lesson's on Friday. Don't be late." He grumbled as he disappeared into the quidditch locker rooms.

Hermione clutched her arms her waist and shivered as she walked of the pitch, trying to forget about how far up she had been.

………………………………

**A/N: D'aw. Fred pledged to protect her mid-air! **

**Again, 'New poll on my profile!' Reviews are loved~!**


	7. Exploding Mudprints

**Disclaimer: All characters (except Aadyn) and setting belong to JKR**

**B/N: Yo, readers! Chapter 7!… I think I'm getting Carpel Tunnel… EEK! It's hurting to type or use my right hand much if I type only a bit.**

**To Tinkerbell658: Yay!**

**To I don't hug trees. They hug me: He was a secret ninja in a society of clam lovers that lived off the coast of India. Mysterious enough? Lol, there isn't much of a story to that really. He's just got a good kicking ability. And P-SHA! The great Fred Weasley? Sexually frustrated. He could go down on any girl he told a joke to. But there's the fact that now he works at a school and you can't have teacher-student relationships! (Oh no!) And yes, short and sweet… (lol… that sounds dirty)**

**Frivolous Fiction Fantasticate: You'll just have to wait and find out!**

**HotWolfGirl: Thanks!**

…

_Friday Afternoon, November 12th_

When everyone had heard that Fred Weasley was now working as the new Quidditch intern, it was no surprise that he became very popular among his old friends and new first year class. Everyone, except Slytherin's, loved Fred Weasley, and he loved hanging out with everyone, except Slytherin's and Hermione Granger.

At least that's what it seemed like since the couple times they ran into each other on Thursday he just glared at her and kept walking.

But Hermione had given up trying to figure out what she had done wrong.

She was too moody and tired to really give a crap about Fred Weasley's feeling's towards her, mean or not.

Hermione had been feeling very queasy all week and today the feeling had seemed to escalate. She blamed the fact that she kept having nightmares about heights which reminded her she had more lessons later that day. She was looking a tad better by lunch, and nearly fine by dinner.

Aadyn popped up just as she finished her dinner (which she regretted eating for fear of throwing up) to escort her out of the grand hall. She tried to hide a smile when everyone was staring at the way he elegantly pulled her alongside him like they were figure skaters.

He went as far as to cut into his study time just to walk with her all the way to the quidditch pitch. She blushed when he offered to stay and observe, but was quickly denied. Hermione worried about how foolish she'd look in front of him if he was to see her trying to fly on a broom. He gave her a cunning grin that made her face turn red, before heading back towards the dark castle up on the hill.

Fred was waiting for her this time, only one broom in hand, and she immediately was thankful she sent Aadyn away. She couldn't imagine such a sophisticated and smart boy watching her fuddle around on a broomstick with another guy so close to her.

Fred already had it floating and ready, not bothering to waist any time. He didn't say anything as she climbed on slowly, making sure her robes were in place. Silently he slid on behind her and put his long arms around her like a covering, holding on to the handle just below her own hands.

His hands were bigger than Aadyn's.

'_URGH! What am I thinking?_' Hermione screamed in her head as they slowly began to rise. She shivered as they reached the middle of the bleachers full height. Not too high but high enough to make her teary eyed. If Fred noticed her apparent fear that was causing her to cry, he didn't say anything.

Hermione quickly blinked away the tears with a look of frustration. Hermione Jane Granger did not cry in the face of a challenge. What in the Muggle world was she doing?

They flew around for a while, at one point almost crashing into a Hufflepuff decorated stand since Hermione was to lost in her own thoughts. Fred leaned back pulling her with them, causing them to rise a bit to avoid clashing with the large wooden structure. Immediately Hermione lost control and began to have another episode, which Fred quickly calmed with soothing words.

"Fred." She asked at one point as the sun began it's final movements for the day on the horizon.

"Yeah?"

"How many lesson's do I have to have?"

"Until you can fly on a broom on your own, without needing me to be up here with you."

"I guess I'll be stuck in these lessons all year." She said with a sigh.

If only she could have seen the look on Fred's face, maybe she wouldn't have thought it so bad to be so high up with him. But she couldn't, and she didn't, so instead she hated her current situation and awaited the warm bed back in the castles towers.

To her surprise Fred turned towards the castle and began climbing higher making her quiver. Now he had complete control of the broom leaving her to just enjoy the ride as they went (which was the overstatement of the year). Before long they were beside her prefect bedroom's window which she had luckily left unlocked. She was glad she had decided not to bring any of her books or supplies down to the pitch.

Carefully she stepped into her window and shakily found herself standing beside her bed. When she turned back towards the window to thank Fred for the ride he was already gone.

She was annoyed that she couldn't understand him.

…

_Friday Morning, November 19th_

As a week passed on, Hermione was glad to discover her nausea with flying had finally came to a complete end.

Now she was just terrified of the height, and still had trouble controlling the broom.

It had been a week since Fred had dropped her off at her room, but that had been the last time he had bothered. Maybe he had just felt a bit of pity that immediately went away after one good deed.

She still didn't really care. She had been lacking sleep because of the flying nightmares she kept having which made her very restless and not the most pleasant one to meet in the morning.

Which meant that when she was late to class that morning, she was definitely not happy.

She had accidentally woken up way later than normal, meaning her internal clock (which she relied on more than any mechanical or magical means of waking up) was not working properly. After walking into breakfast late and only getting the leftover scraps, she got a note from Professor McGonagall saying she had failed a major Transfiguration exam a week prior.

Hermione Granger had failed a Transfiguration exam.

Hermione Granger had failed an exam.

Hermione Granger had failed.

Hermione Granger would become bi-polar at this rate.

She had to run to her next class upset, wishing she wasn't so sleep deprived, when she ran into Neville being teased by Peeves in the hall. She had to shoo Peeves off and help Neville collect his things before they could scuttle off to class. She hadn't seen the trap someone had set for her, down the hall.

'_Damn, Malfoy._' She assumed as she felt her body rocket upward and bash against the ceiling. Hermione was able to get a quick glance at the Exploding Mudprints spread out on the ground, which were banned in the school. Splotches that resembled mudlike mud and when you stepped on it, it exploded. A very dangerous toy.

She heard a loud crack as her head slammed against the wall and she began to fall back to the ground. Before she smashed to the floor she found someone's source of magic surrounding her and keeping her mid-air. The blood from the wound on the back of her head was dripping down her back steadily.

For some reason she hadn't passed out like last time, but things seemed to be moving in slow motion. Neville, using quick thinking (which immediately raised her respect for him), had been able to catch her just in time. He quickly set her down and ran over to check on her. Hermione tried to stand up to walk herself to Madame Pomfrey but was terrified when she realized she couldn't move. Upon voicing as much to Neville, she found him scrambling around panicking.

After screeching for help Nearly Headless Nick happened to float by. He quickly agreed to go in search of some teacher, but was stopped when Fred Weasley rounded the corner after hearing Neville's screams.

The expression on his face after seeing Hermione was, in one way to put it, unforgettable. Priceless. Shocking.

To bad Hermione couldn't see it; she could only see his shoes. Neville on the other hand felt a bit of surprise deep down, but his fear for Hermione was too great at that moment.

Fred, who was better than Neville at maintaining a levitating spell for long periods while moving, carefully lifted Hermione off the ground. The pool of blood that had formed around her instantly encouraged him to run faster than he physically could.

Neville stayed close behind carefully to make sure she didn't fall if Fred's spell faltered.

Hermione wasn't sure how long it had taken to get to the Hospital Wing, but it felt like it was too long. She couldn't feel anything except a terrible pounding in her head. She couldn't even cry.

"It hurts." She whispered, not really aware she was speaking. It was more or less her just saying what she thought since anything she tried to process made a sharp pain flash through her skull.

"You'll be fine. Don't move. We're here. MADAME POMFREY!" He screamed as he kicked the door open and burst in on the older woman who was treating a boy who was covered in boils. He reminded Hermione of Neville in their first year after a Potions class's accident.

"What on Earth is going on? Bursting in while I'm trying to- oh." She said as she watched fresh crimson drops creep down Hermione's brunette curls. "Quickly, bring her to this bed!" Madame Pomfrey urged Fred as she motioned for an empty bed across from the boiled boy. "What happened?" She asked looking up at the boys as she grabbed two bottles out of a drawer in the bed's side table.

"We were just going to class, running a little late. Suddenly there was this explosion and I flew backwards, but Hermione must have been on top of it because she went upwards and hit her head against the ceiling." Neville explained quickly as he looked at Hermione with a worried expression.

"Ex… Exploding Mudprints." Hermione muttered as she felt her eyes grow heavy. Thankfully no sleepy visions of tiny ant sized students taunted her behind her eyelids.

"Deary, stay awake. Ms. Granger? Ms. Granger!" Madame Pomfrey urged as she quickly began shaking the bottles and apply a bluish cream to the back of Hermione's head.

"Hermione!" Neville squeaked as he tried to fan her face in an attempt to give her some fresh air to breath.

A large hand slid into her smaller one and began to stroke her fingers with it's thumb. A warm voice leaned down next to her ear and gave her goosebumps as it spoke.

"Don't fall asleep yet."

It sounded familiar. She fought off a blush she thought might be nearing her cheeks, but any blood that was in her head was still gushing out the back.

Fred's words seemed to have worked since her eyes slowly opened revealing to hazel orbs and a grimace of pain.

She was glad that Fred was smiling at her again, even if it was more of a look of sympathy.

Half an hour later, Hermione was out cold but healing, with Fred Weasley seated beside her. Madame Pomfrey had already written a note to Neville and Hermione's teacher explaining the situation and shooed him back to class. She agreed that someone should stay with her, and who better than an old friend who didn't have classes to attend.

…

_Friday Night, November 19__th_

Hermione's dreams were becoming stranger and more embarrassing each time she had them. This one had no images though, but the words were provocative and were being whispered in her ear.

"Nnn. Hermione." A husky voice whispered making her blood run warmer than usual. A moan. A kissing noise. Creaking. Then she heard her own voice crying out loudly. It wasn't a name, but more of a scream of pleasure. It was obvious that she was mid-sex.

"Ah. Ah. … I love you." She heard herself whisper in a muffled tone as if it wasn't meant to really be heard by the other person. But somehow it was since she recalled being met with faster thrusts and her own screaming got louder in the process.

"Don't forget that." The male's voice grunted as she heard herself give one final moan and shiver.

Hermione opened her eyes to see a familiar, pearly white, marble ceiling.

"At the rate this years going, I'll probably end up with my own bed." Hermione thought as she slowly sat up. She felt dirty as if she was covered in a layer of thick dirt and was dying for a bath. She looked down to see Fred Weasley with his head in her lap, asleep.

She watched him for a moment, never remembering ever getting to look at him so closely. He had longer eyelashes than Ron, that spread out against his freckled cheeks. His hair was long again, brushing against his shoulders and giving him a younger look. His nose was long like all his brothers, but it was a nose that suited him. He had a few bruises on his cheeks from where she had bashed him in the face after having a panic attack on her broomstick. His lips were curved downward, which she would have thought was rare if he hadn't been delivering an ice box of cold shoulder to her for the past several months.

He wasn't so bad when she looked at him close up.

Suddenly, his eyes opened to look at her, and she was shocked to see relief and happiness flood into them.

What the hell was wrong with Fred Weasley?

…

**A/N: Lol. I think I just like beating Hermione up. What can I say… it's a hobby… Anyone want to make me a banner that says "I beat up fictional characters in my spare time!" Haha!**

**And yay for the random Nearly Headless Nick appearance!**


	8. Owls Can Move Glass, stfu

**_Disclaimer: You all know the drill. If not go back a couple chapters._**

**_B/N: So… this is most likely the last chapter for a couple weeks. On the 10th__ I'm flying to my dad's house and he only has 1 connector to his home computer. My poor lappy will only be able to gain access once in a while (my father uses the computer a lot since it's how he run's his business)._**

**…**

_Friday Night, November 19__th_

Hermione felt her body fall back against the bed only moments after she leaned forward to get a better look at Fred. She felt so weak. Fred who had woken up only seconds before sat up to look at her carefully. After he was done he took a breath and just looked at her.

"What time is it?" She asked to try and keep his eyes off her. It felt strange to be looked at so intensely.

"Eleven. Everyone's sleeping. Do you want anything?" He asked nonchalantly.

"No, but why do I feel so dirty?" She asked as she moved her chest a bit and felt something crusty on her back.

"Probably the dried blood. Speaking of which…" He said pushing back his chair as he wrapped his hands under her knees and back. Slowly he picked her up and began walking slowly out of the room.

"Where are we going?" She asked trying to crane her neck to see in the dark.

"Calm down. I'm sure you don't want to be feeling gross all night." He said. Hermione was surprised by how considerate he was being. It was like the old days.

She recalled the time that the twins punching telescope had hit her in the eye unexpectedly, and he had been quick to give her a bruise removal cream. She had really missed that thoughtful side of him.

As they walked, Fred was very careful not to accidentally loose his footing on any vanishing steps or try to open a door that led nowhere. Carefully he slipped in and out of secret passageways.

At one point Filch stopped them with the help of Ms. Norris but was shaken off when Fred informed him that he was no longer a student and was now allowed to roam where he pleased. He left before the old man could say anything about Hermione.

Finally they arrived at their destination. The Prefects bathroom.

Hermione quickly whispered the password (Frog Mucus), and was granted entryway. It was so late that no one was in there leaving her to take a peaceful bath alone. Fred walked over and carefully balanced Hermione of one arm as he turned on the faucets to start the bath water.

Fred gently set her down on a bench near a large, stain-glassed window and helped her get off her robe. Her body was still in shock and was healing, only allowing her to move her Torso slightly.

When Fred reached her blouse she finally realized it was just them. Alone. In the bathroom.

"W-wait Fred! You can't. It's… It's against school rules to bath coed." Hermione whispered as if expecting someone to walk in while Fred Weasley's hands were close to her chest.

"You want to feel all bloody and smelly for the next couple days?" He asked earning a worried look from Hermione that made him grin. "Thought so. Just hold still." He said as he undid the last button. It wasn't like she really had a choice.

He slid off her shirt revealing her bra choice for the day. A lacy black one, two sizes bigger than she usually wore, which her aunt had bought her as a birthday gag. She only wore it because she figured no one would see it anyways, and because she had recently broke her old ones. She had been pleased when it fit comfortably, but oh her luck.

She blushed bright red and prayed Fred wasn't looking, that he had the decency to turn away.

But who was she kidding. This was FRED Weasley. Not Ron or Percy. She looked up to find him staring at her chest with a confused expression on his face.

"Fred Weasley. If you don't turn your eyes to the wall right now I'll find some way to hex you even if I have to use my teeth to hold my wand. I'll do it." Hermione threatened making Fred look up in surprise.

"Oh, sorry Hermione." He apologized, but she could tell he didn't mean it. The pervert.

Then she realized his hands were moving for her jean zipper.

Oh hell no.

"Stop, stop, stop. If you make one more move at my pants I will tell your mother you're being indecent in Hogwarts."

"Hermione… you don't want to get your pants wet, do you?" He asked, making it sound like the answer should be extremely obvious, which it was. She didn't want to have to lie in wet jeans until she was all healed.

"Fine…" She muttered as she stared hard at the part of the bench beside her. One arm was wrapped over her still clothed breasts while the other sat on her stomach waiting till he was finished.

Slowly, as if teasing (oh who was she kidding… of course he was!), he slid her pants down to her ankles. Her panties were plain, since she hadn't thought to color coordinate her undergarments for the day. Fred tried to hide a laugh.

After picking her up in his arms again, he walked over towards the bath and for a moment she wondered if he was going to toss her in and expect her to move back towards the edge easily. Thankfully he was thoughtful enough to let her down so her back was to the rest of the bath and she could keep a grip on the side.

When she glanced up, she saw Fred pulling off his shirt.

He was stripping down to his boxers.

Before she had a chance to react he had jumped in the water and was moving to turn off the faucet. Once he had finished he moved back towards her and carefully laid his hand on the small of her back. She could feel a row of goosebumps form under his touch.

Slowly he moved his hands up and began to rub at the dried blood that had formed along her back. When his success was minimal he reached over Hermione, his chest pressing against her back so that when she glanced up she could see his neck and bottom of his chin clearly.

Way too close.

He was able to grab a wash cloth and scrubbed at the dark stains along her back.

Suddenly, something occurred to her.

"Why didn't you just use a spell to clean me off?"

"Madame Pomfrey instructed me that no magic should be used on you while your wound heals. It'll react with the potion and compress she used and it'll cause bad side effects."

Hermione just nodded, letting her forehead rest on the cool siding as the warm water soaked into her tired skin. The massage felt wonderful and she finally felt calm among all the stress. She felt herself drift to sleep.

…..

_Saturday Morning, November 20__th_

Hermione yawned as she opened her eyes to light hitting the hospital wing of Hogwarts. She watched as owls flew past getting ready to deliver the morning mail. She could see the beautiful backdrop of the mountians that loomed over the castle and gave the place an enchanted look.

Suddenly her attention caught an owl sitting on the ledge of the window where a small square chunk of glass sat. It was an owl entrance for when they had mail for the injured, but someone had obviously forgot to open it that morning.

Slowly Hermione was able to lift her arms (much better than the night before) and clutch her wand off the side table. She pointed it towards the window, her fingers a bit shaky, and whispered _Alohamora_. The latch clicked and the owl was able to push it's way through. It flew straight for Hermione and dropped off a letter and three notes.

The first note was from Headmistress McGonagall expressing her regrets for not being able to drop by and check on her properly. She had to run off to the ministry to help them settle a matter of politics that she didn't have time to explain in one quick note.

The second one was from Harry, Ron, and the whole of Gryffindor. They were apologizing for not being able to visit her on a Saturday. They had recently been given a horrendous assignment from Professor Binns, who hadn't spared anyone in his wrath. Apparently someone in one of his classes had sketched a picture into one of the desks of the Professor talking students to death. The dead student's souls would them fly out of their body and they'd start mocking the picture of their teacher. A mountain of homework so cruel had been dropped on their heads that was due the next day (Saturday) so they had all had to pull all-nighters and were exhausted.

The third was from Fred, who she had just noticed was no where in sight. It was him apologizing for seeing her in her undergarments the night before. Hermione was a little less angry with him now, but embarrassed as the memory flowed back.

The letter was from her parents stating they would be unable to have her home for Christmas since they had won free trips on a cruise and they had been talking about going on a second honeymoon. Hermione had been bugging her work-a-holic, dentist, parents to go on a vacation, and it would just so happen they had got such a thing during her winter break. She didn't mind much since then she'd be able to head over to the Weasleys burrow with Harry for Christmas. Enclosed in the letter was some muggle cash and a picture of them holding signs saying "We miss you!" and "We love you so much!" She couldn't help but chuckle at her parent's photographs. They didn't move like wizard ones, which made her feel a little sad.

She laid in bed and relaxed for the first time in a long time, just staring at her parents picture.

Then something hit her, and thankfully in a figuratively way. She was tired of getting bruised and hurt.

She would have a chance to be with all three suspects in the case of her missing virginity. Hermione would definitely find out who the culprit was by winters end.

**…**

**A/N: Whooot~ This isn't what I originally had planned for this chapter, but it's much better than what I did have, so I'm somewhat pleased. It's about time Hermione should get back to looking for who slept with her! It's been three months. I would have severed his genitals by now if I was in her shoes. Haha!**

**Also: Make sure you read my before note at the top of the page, and here's some shameless advertising recoloringworks(dot)blogspot(dot)com. When I'm not writing my friend and I are coloring these.**

**I'll try to write more soon!**


	9. Blueberries and Rapists

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters**

**B/N: Hey again guys! I have a couple days before I have to leave, and I have way more free time than I originally thought. So have another chapter.**

**Replies from chapter 7 & 8 reviews:**

**I don't hug trees. They hug me- Sorry, no sexy dreams in this chapter! XD Probably the next one, if I can find a good place for it. And I think Hogwart teacher-teacher relationships would just scar the students.**

**Tinkerbell658 - Gotta agree with you on that Tinker. Men are stupid. Especially the ones at the end of this chapter.**

**HotWolfGirl - Thanks! **

…

_Saturday Evening, December 18__th_

Mrs. Weasley, George, and Fred (who had just apparated home) stood at track nine and three quarters as the train pulled into the station. Mrs. Weasley looked overjoyed to see her children, biological and not. She spread her arms out as her youngest kids walked over and hugged her. Then she quickly gave hugs to Harry and Hermione before hurrying them off towards the exit before it became too crowded.

It was obvious that Christmas was in full swing on the muggle side of the barrier. People ran around, greeting their own family and friends who were visiting for the holidays. Hermione began following the group when suddenly an arm grabbed her surprising her badly.

"Hermione?" A familiar voice said drawing her eyes to their face. Markus Jacobs, an old classmate she had known well from her younger years, was looking down at her in surprise.

"Markus!" She said in shock, grinning at him happily. She couldn't believe she had actually forgotten about her childhood friend. He was the one who helped her learn how to read when she was little and had trouble.

"Wow. It's been so long. What are you doing in London?" He asked looking her over appreciatively. Hermione pretended not to notice.

"I'm here visiting some friends. Our school's out of session for the winter." She explained as she turned towards him to look him over too. She hadn't seen him in years, since he moved to London, which would more or less explain why he was there.

"Oh cool. Are you going to be in town? We should hang out-." He stopped mid-sentence and his eyes seemed to look up behind Hermione. She turned to see Fred standing behind her and giving her a lets-go look.

"Sorry Markus, we gotta catch the bus. Do you have a cell number I can call you from?" She asked trying not to look at Fred again. Markus quickly wrote down his number on an old receipt from a grocery store.

"Promise you'll call me?" He asked with a smile, not looking back up at Fred who seemed to be glaring at him. Hermione nodded and gave him a goodbye hug before turning and going to meet up the other Weasley's and Harry.

"Jeez Fred." She said once they had successfully located The Leaky Cauldron and prepared to use their floo network to get back to the Burrow. "I was just saying hi."

"You were holding up the rest of us. Think about others for once." He growled under his breath, so that only Hermione could hear him. She gave him a sharp look but he didn't see it.

She felt her eyebrow twitch as he quickly flooed out of the pub before she could retort.

"You and Fred have a fight?" George asked as Harry and Ron used the fireplace together.

"I don't know what that boy thinks." She said looking up at his twin who just shrugged as if to say he didn't either. "Does he hate me?"

"Fred? Hate you? Definitely not." George said shaking his head profusely. "But sometimes… okay, he most always says the wrong things to people he cares about."

"He doesn't seem to have a problem with anyone else." She said with a sigh as she jumped into the fireplace with Ginny and shouted, "Weasley Burrow".

George rubbed his head and gave a heavier sigh than Hermione had just had. "That's because he doesn't love anyone else but you."

"What did you say, George?" Mrs. Weasley asked, having just finished up a conversation with an older gentleman.

"Nothing, Mum. It's just going to be a rough winter." And with that he jumped into the fireplace and was off.

…

_Sunday Afternoon, December 19__th_

Hermione's wound on the back of her head, that she had received exactly a month ago, was completely gone. She was glad to have gained the use of her limbs back in only a couple days of hospitalization. Fred hadn't visited her anymore and after their incident at the train station she had been keeping distance.

She was happy to see Bill and Charlie again, along with Mr. Weasley who was busier at the Ministry than ever. She was also touched to see that Mrs. Weasley had installed two hands on the clock that had her and Harry's faces on them. They must have had to save up quite a bit to have the pieces made.

Hermione watched as Ginny tried to get closer to Harry, who was happy to spend time with his friend, but everyone once in a while you could catch his eyes staring out the window as if hoping he'd see someone walking towards the burrow. Hermione had to hide a smile as she watched her infatuated friend daydream of Luna Lovegood, eccentric girl, and stealer of the Boy Who Lived's heart.

Ron and Bill could be seen with heads buried down to a game of Wizard Chess while Charlie had a conversation with a very pregnant Fleur. She was giggly and letting him feel the baby kick. Having a happy pregnant woman in the room seemed to make everything feel warmer.

Just then Fred and George came galloping in with a plate of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. Everyone was interested in the concept of having a family circle and trying one at a time. Fleur was shooed away by Bill who didn't want her to eat one that would upset her stomach and make her sick.

As they passed it around, Hermione picked up a blue colored on and looked it over carefully. Slowly she popped it in her mouth and chewed. She was grateful to have gotten a blueberry one. She blinked as she realized how good blueberries were. She looked at the plate and saw there was another blue one on it. As it came back to her she picked it up and ate it. It was water flavored. She grimaced and quickly turned, leaving the group promptly.

"Bad flavor, Hermione?" Charlie called out as the group turned to her. They didn't notice Ron spitting out bits of a mashed up yellow bean.

"No, but I just had a blueberry bean and they sounded really good." She said as she made her way to the kitchen, leaving the laughing group behind. Apparently they had seen Ron eat a red one that was jalapeno flavored.

"Mrs. Weasley," Hermione asked as she reached the kitchen and walked towards the robust woman. "do you have any blueberries?"

"Oh, no dear I don't. Why?" Mrs. Weasley replied as she wiped her wet hands on her apron and moved towards the oven were she was starting lunch.

"I haven't been eating well recently, and I just felt they would be something I might be able to keep down." Hermione admitted. "But if you don't, it's fine."

"Nonsense. George, Fred!" The woman called out as two identical heads popped out of the doorway to look at the two woman standing by the oven. "Will you boys run with Hermione to the store."

"Oh, Mrs. Weasley. I really don't need-"

"It's fine dear. I need to get groceries for Christmas Dinner anyways. I'll just send you three off it that's alright with you."

Hermione couldn't say no to a kind face like that.

…**.**

"So we need… three turkeys, five bags of potato's, forty corn-on-the-cobs, four jars of applesauce, three stuffing mix's, ten can's of peas… Are we buying food for an army?" George asked as he read over the list his mother had given them along with a considerable amount of muggle money that they had for when they needed groceries. They felt that muggle food was a bit fresher than wizard food, and they weren't the only ones. Harry had secretly slipped them a couple galleon's that they exchanged for British currency while they were still in the magical community. He wanted to help with the cost of food, but knew Mrs. Weasley would decline his offer. He told them to buy more if they thought they should.

"The Weasley family, plus Harry and I, are pretty much a small army of it's own." Hermione said with a laugh as they entered a local muggle supermarket. She made a beeline straight for the blueberries and grabbed two cartons inspecting them silently.

"You like blueberries?" Fred asked as he walked up behind her.

'_He must be in a good mood._' Hermione thought, noting is decent behavior. She gave him a smile and nodded.

"I haven't eaten them in a long time, and that Bertie Bott Bean was pretty good."

Fred didn't reply but instead walked back over to his twin brother and helped him pick out forty cobs of decent corn. As Hermione finished looking over the cartons she noticed a gaggle of older girls standing in the middle some aisles and looking the twins over admiringly.

The group was blocking her way to the twins who had moved on to look at box's of stuffing mix, making quiet jokes about muggle advertising that seemed to be apparent all over.

Hermione started to walk, carrying the three cartons (she felt like she needed another one, and Harry did say to get extra if they wanted) of blueberries towards the guy's cart. As she approached the girls she asked if they could excuse her. They gave a glance back but after seeing it was just another girl they quickly turned back to ogle at the boys.

Hermione was irritated now and didn't feel like retreating so easily.

"Excuse me." She said as she tried to move around one of the girls who had short black hair and a mean look in her eye.

"Watch it, bitch." The girl growled pushing Hermione back. She fell to the ground, the blueberry's slipping from her grasp and spilled all over the floor. She blinked a few times before looking up into the eyes of the girl who had pushed her.

"Oh, that's it." Hermione growled as she jumped up and made to attack the girl. Before they could really get started George was holding her back and Fred was glaring at the short haired girl as if _he_ was going to kill her.

"She said to excuse her. Next time you better listen."

The girls retreated quickly as Hermione calmed down and brushed herself off.

"Sorry." she apologized as she knelt down to begin picking up the berries by hand. For a moment the twins looked down at her as she carefully tried to get them, frowning at her own terrible luck. Moment's later the twins wands were out and pointing at the little blue orbs that were rolling towards her and hopping into the open carton's. She looked around nervously to make sure no muggles were present, but it was empty except for the twins and her. Once they were done she thanked them and earned her hair getting tousled by George.

"You're pretty fierce when you're angry." George teased recalling the pissed expression she had, had earlier. They were currently pushing three cart's full of food towards Mr. Weasley's current muggle contraption. A mini-van that couldn't fly, but could turn invisible, allowing them to speed however fast they wanted. Though the Weasley children were a bit sad to discover van's weren't exactly race cars.

"I dunno. Just the way she acted made me mad." Hermione said grinning as she recalled her own feelings of anger. She was pretty vicious if she wanted to be. But normally she wouldn't be that mad. Was it because those girls were staring at the twins. Her theoretical 'little brother's', as she often thought of them. The two of them acted like naughty little brothers who were often watched carefully by their overprotective sister.

But the problem was she would never sleep with one of her little brothers.

Her mood instantly turned a bit sour.

…

_Monday Afternoon, December 20__th_

Hermione remembered her promise to Markus that morning and decided to go back to the local muggle town in search of a pay phone to use. She regretted not having a means to talk to him for a long about of time, but this was the best she had.

Ginny agreed to walk with her, since the town was a ways, but the Weasley's all knew shortcuts across some fields and through a small forest.

Thankfully there was a row of pay phones near the edge of town which was just what Hermione needed. She had made change of her own from the day before when the twins had converted Harry's offering to muggle money in the Weasley's hometown.

Ginny figured Hermione would want some privacy to chat so she scurried off to a nearby convenience store.

Hermione was happy to chat with Markus for a while, him being her oldest friend. They discussed family, and school (Hermione lying, saying she was actually going to a private school on the other side of England) and a number of other things.

As they began on the subject of television show's (which Hermione was definitely not up to date with, so she was a bit worried), it happened.

An arm wrapped around her neck, cutting off her oxygen flow, while a couple sets of hands held her body still. She choked and shook trying to get air, but felt everything go dark after merely a couple seconds. Mean giggling could be heard as she collapsed, unconscious.

…

Water hit Hermione flowing into her mouth and nostrils making it so she couldn't breath. After a minute she was pulled back and began trying to cough up the water she had ingested. Her hands were bound behind her back and someone had their hands clutching her hair.

"Stupid, bitch." A cruel voice said as Hermione's head was pulled back to look at her attacker. It was the black haired girl. The other girls from the supermarket stood around her. They were in what looked like a dark, rotten smelling, basement, where no heat reached. Hermione was freezing.

"To embarrass us in front of those guys. Especially me! Do you know who you pissed off, girly?" She hissed, glaring down at Hermione as if she was ready to kill her. "Do you?"

Hermione let her eyes look over the girls who were with her. She hadn't noticed the rough clothing they were wearing, and the tattoo's that covered their arms. They couldn't be much older than her, but Hermione had found herself right in the middle of a gang.

She couldn't feel her wand in her pocket. It must have fallen out when she was struggling with them earlier.

"Dumbass." The girl who was apparently the leader muttered as she shoved Hermione's head back into the water filled bucket that was sitting on a low table in the center of the room.

"You'll pay for this." Hermione mumbled as she tried to regain air after being pulled back up.

"Haha. What was that? You think you'll get revenge on us? Damn you're arrogant, aren't you? Those twins can't save you this time." She whispered in Hermione's ear.

The brunette wondered why her seventh year was turning out to be one big nightmare.

"Canary." The black haired girl called out, directing her attention towards a short haired blonde who had a cut on her cheek and really pretty blue eyes.

"Yes?"

"Is pit-bull and his boys here?" She asked, looking down at Hermione with a maniacal leer. Hermione had a gut wrenchingly awful feeling.

"Yes. They've been upstairs waiting for a couple minutes."

"Call them down. We're done here." The girl said pushing Hermione to the floor and picking up the bucket of water. She poured it onto the girl and gave her a swift kick in the ribs before going.

'_All this, just because the twins threatened them?_' Hermione thought as she laid on the ground, trying to struggle out of the duct tape that held her hands behind her back. '_These girls must be crazy!_'

One by one the girls left and were steadily replaced by a group of equally tattooed guys who looked buff. She wondered if she could talk them into just killing her and not do what she felt they were about to.

She pushed away as they began to walk towards her. Eventually she found herself backed up against a wall, never letting her eyes leave their grimy faces.

"Panther was mad." One of the men commented as he looked the soaking wet Hermione over from head to toe. "Wonder what she could have possibly done."

"Probably nothing much." A man standing towards the front of the pack said as he stopped directly in front of Hermione. "That girl will find any excuse to single out a girl and mentally destroy her."

"All the better for us, though." A different guy responded with a hungry look in his eyes.

Hermione wanted to scream, but couldn't seem to get air in her lungs to do so.

She was really going to be raped.

Right there, on that dirty basement floor.

The man at the front picked her up by her wet shirt and tossed her towards one of his friends who proceeded to rip off her clothes. The man ripped off her shirt and pushed her bra up revealing her pale breasts. He threw her back to the ground and grinned. She tried to get away but found her arms and legs being held down. Two guys began to unzip their pants hastily while another guy pulled down her jeans and panties and grinned.

Hermione felt tears streaming down her cheeks as she continued to fight to get away.

"Oh, not a virgin?" The man sitting in front of her observed as he pushed two fingers into her curiously

She gasped loudly and finally found her lungs full of air.

Who to call for. No one could hear her.

But she wanted to at least call someone's name. Someone who promised to protect her no matter what.

Fred.

She repeated his name over and over, screaming it out which startled the gang who had been expecting a relatively quiet girl.

Quickly, a rough and calloused hand slammed down on her mouth silencing her.

An explosion shook the foundations of the house as the door to the basement exploded off it's hinges and smacked into one of the men making him shout in pain. Fred Weasley stood at the top of the steps, looking down concerned, obviously looking hard for something. When his eye's finally focused on the dark room and the group who were surrounding the naked Hermione, it was like a dragon had been woken up.

Fred had been so close to casting an Avada Kedavra spell on those men, but knew he didn't have time to get sent to Azkaban. Hermione needed him too much.

Once the semi-dead bodies were littered on the ground, blood dripping against the walls, and memories wiped clean, Fred hastily removed his long winter jacket and wrapped Hermione up delicately. He held her against his chest as he bounded back up the steps and out of the old house that she had been held captive in.

As soon as he reached the edge of the woods he shot a red flare into the sky, making sure that no muggles were nearby to see it. It was a sign to the others that Hermione had been found. With that he began trudging back to the burrow, careful not to shake her to much.

"Fred…" She murmured against his chest as he walked.

"Yeah?" He answered immediately lifting her up so that her head was resting on his shoulder and he could hear her better.

"I'm glad you heard me."

"Huh?"

"When they were doing that, I remembered that you said you'd protect me, so I was called out your name, and you came."

Fred stopped walking at looked down at her in surprise, but she was already half asleep. Instead of stirring bad recollections of earlier, he just continued to trudge in the snow, across the field, wishing he had just killed the bastards when he had the chance.

…

**A/N: So this who chapter was DEFINATLY not planned. It just flowed out of me, and I kind of liked it. Then again, I adore it when love interest's save girls from rapists. It must be a 'me' kind of thing. **

**Poor Markus (another character I've made… haha.), now he really will never have a chance with Hermione.**


	10. Well Shit

**Disclaimer: I only own Aadyn and Markus… mmm. Cute teens!**

**B/N: Hello! Another chapter? Gasp!**

…

_Wednesday Early Morning, December 22nd_

Water.

It filled her lungs.

She couldn't breathe.

She reached her hands up to the surface and there was Fred looking down at her as if he couldn't see her. She struggled to make him notice her. For him to see her under the surface of the water.

She opened her mouth and shouted his name, but more water filled her lungs.

Suddenly, his hands wrapped around her and pulled her out.

Hermione woke up in Fred's arm's.

She was shaking so hard it was the only way to make her calm down.

She had slept the day away yesterday, more or less, too scared to get out of bed. Ginny had decided to room in a spare bedroom a little higher up in the house to give Hermione some privacy and peace. She knew Fred had sat outside her room all day. She heard him sneeze a couple of times. She wanted to open the door and give him one of her spare blankets, but she didn't think she could compose herself. She knew she'd probably start crying before she made it back to bed. Just looking at his face would make her want to break down.

She realized that morning, that she only truly felt safe when Fred was holding her. His body wrapped around her own. His big hands keeping her close and out of danger.

She knew it couldn't have been Ron who slept with her that night. It was a Weasley twin.

And she actually wished it was Fred.

But she wouldn't ask him. She didn't think she could stand it if she was wrong.

Fred told her he heard her crying out his name while he was walking past her room that early morning.

She knew he had actually been sleeping just outside the door in case she had a panic attack or something of the sort.

If she went out there right now, she would find a messed up blanket and a pillow.

She didn't move as he just held her and let her breath deeply for a while. Everyone was still sleeping and she figured she should probably go and let everyone know she was okay by staying out of her room that day.

Slowly she pulled away and tried to stand up, but found her legs unstable as the thoughts of the muggle gang members came back. She knew hundreds of people had been hurt way more than she had, but she couldn't forget it. She shivered as Fred stood up to help her gain her balance.

"Fred." She whispered as she turned to look up at him. "Will you help me take a bath?" She wanted to scrub the parts of the body the men's grimy fingers had grabbed. Fred looked down at her and gave her an understanding smile.

"Yeah."

… **(Dang. This got so seriously serious!)**

_Wednesday Morning, December 22__nd_

"Hermione. Dear." Mrs. Weasley said as she sat Hermione down in the living room, after sending the all her children out to gather more wood from the forest for the fire. Fred had been a bit reluctant to leave, but George was able to make him go after talking for a bit.

Hermione met Mrs. Weasley's eyes for the first time in a couple days.

"Mr. Weasley and I were talking about it, and we think you should go get checked out at St. Mungo's. Who knows what those muggle men had, if anything."

"Mrs. Weasley, I don't have enough money for a check up." Hermione explained, having only a couple muggle dollars on hand.

"Fred and George offered some of their profits from their shop, and Harry was more than happy to help." Molly said as she held Hermione's hand's in her own. "We're all concerned, and we just want to make sure everything's all right."

Hermione looked at the older woman felt a bit of admiration. She wished she could become as strong and brave as the woman who raised six boys and a little girl, and beat all the obstacles along the way. Hermione was weak after just being scared by some guys.

"Alright then." She agreed and let Molly Weasley lead her towards the families fireplace. She must of gotten the money from the boy's in advance.

After two words they stood in the busy lobby of St. Mungo's hospital. They waited in line and until it was their turn to speak with a secretary. The man behind the counter directed them down a hall giving multiple directions of left and right which had Hermione completely confused. Thankfully Molly had pulled out a quill and parchment and copied down his every word.

They arrived at a small little room with a doctor's bed on one side for the patient to lay on, and a sink with a stool in front of it on the other. Hermione asked Mrs. Weasley if she could be alone to speak with the doctor. The older woman nodded and left, heading towards a waiting room down the hall.

Hermione was relieved to find an older, kind looking witch enter with a smile on her face. Hermione explained the events from a couple days ago and the Weasley families concern's. The doctor nodded sympathetically, having heard of such cases before.

Hermione was stuck at St. Mungo's for seven hours as they ran tests, using magical, and muggle means. They agreed to tell her all at once, so she decided to go and stay with Mrs. Weasley.

As she was heading toward the waiting room she happened to bump into Neville heading the opposite way. She was a bit surprised to see Neville at the hospital and not at home with his grandmother, aunts, and uncles. They talked for a moment, Neville being kind enough not to nose into why she was there. Molly happened to notice them talking from her seat down the hall and invited Neville and his family to Christmas dinner. He just said he'd ask his family when he got home.

Hermione had never spent so much time with just Molly Weasley before. Normally one of her children would be around to chat with, but it was just the woman and herself. So, to break the silence, Mrs. Weasley began telling stories about her children when they were younger.

"Well… I'm sure you've heard about how Fred permanently scarred Ron with spiders, but have you heard how Bill scarred Fred?"

Hermione shook her head and furrowed her eyebrows in surprise. "How so?"

"Fred tore all the pages out of his favorite story book, so he turned Fred into a cockroach. It took us a long time to realize where Fred had went, and by the time we got him turned back, he was terrified of insects, since we had almost stepped on him multiple times." Mrs. Weasley chuckled as she though back to it. "If you ever yell 'Cockroach' in the same room as him, he'll become quite distressed."

Hermione grinned as she had something new to try out later.

"I used to chase the neighborhood boys around with frogs and worms. They said I was a brutish British girl, who thought I was a boy. Then I grew up and found my love of books and learning."

"I remember I used to be like that. Tried to learn a lot. I never did really retain any information, but Merlin smite me if I didn't try."

A rumble of thunder could be heard churning outside of the hospital. Molly blinked a few times before turning a light pink.

"Okay, when I wasn't snogging boy's I really was trying."

"You sound like Ron." Hermione chuckled, and had to hold in more laughter when she saw the woman's mouth drop.

"Well, if he's like me, he'll turn out happy." Molly said patting Hermione's knee with a smile.

The woman knew how to make people feel relaxed.

At least until the doctor walked into the area and motioned for Hermione to follow her back towards the little room where she had, had the tests done.

Hermione sat on the table, trying not to crinkle the covering and tried to make sense of the words written on the woman's paper. The handwriting was atrocious so she decided to just be patient and listen.

"Your blood test's are fine. Cholesterol levels are good. No disease's, infections, cancer's, or anything like that. No exotic illness's, though I figure muggles like those twits wouldn't be going any where exotic, but it was on our check-list to have looked at. No infections. Good, good." The witch said as she looked down the paper, adding her mixed opinion in as she went. "No STD's, HIV's, or C7DQ's."

Hermione really didn't want to know what a C7DQ was at that moment. She'd just research it when she got back to Hogwarts.

"No infections. You're in perfect he-." Then her eyes focused on a two words towards the bottom of the page.

"What… What's wrong." Hermione said rubbing her hands together nervously. She knew it was bad when even a doctor was surprised.

The older witch glanced up at the girl then at the top of her paper, then back up at Hermione, then back to the bottom of her paper.

"Well. I suppose you are old enough, so a haggard woman like me can't say much." The witch said rereading the lines on the paper. "You should have told us beforehand. Some of the tests we administer here can be dangerous, but luckily you didn't have any of those."

"Told you what?" Hermione asked as she slid forward a bit, as if she could now magically make out the words the woman was staring at. Could she be referring to her having two nonmagical parent's? That effected tests? " I didn't think have muggle parent's could do anything to testing."

"Pardon? Having muggle parent's doesn't do anything to our tests. I was speaking talking about your condition right now."

"What condition?" Hermione asked, finally standing up and pleading with the woman to explain to her.

"The fact that you're pregnant."

The woman held the folder with the papers on top of it in front of the girls face. At the bottom it only said two words in sloppy handwriting.

Pregnant: Positive.

…

**A/N: Sureeuslee guys, how many of you saw that coming? I tried to hide it but allow subtle clues (fatigue, nausea, swollen breasts, cravings, mood swings) though it was a bit difficult, since most everyone knows signs of pregnancy and can spot them well. I didn't add the fact that Hermione wasn't having her period, since she figured she was just really stressed out (though I'll probably add that explanation next chapter, so this is pretty pointless). Yeah. Cliché, but this is kind of one of the few parts of this story I actually have planned out.**


	11. Magical Abortions Are Terrifyingly Evil

**Disclaimer: I only own Aadyn and Markus, rest is JK's stuffz!**

**B/N: Yo, my skillets, what's crackalakin?**

**Naydra- The face at the end of your review made me laugh. XD**

**Emmiline-Zahara-Rose- I liked when Fred showed up too! And as you requested, here's another chapter!**

**MissImpossible- Yeah, Signs of pregnancy are universal, so I figured people would notice. XD HermionexFred action will take place, later on, so don't worry!**

…

_Wednesday Afternoon, December 22__nd_

Normally… when a young person discovers that they got knocked up and can't remember by who, they get upset, scared, and break down into sobs right there in front of the doctor.

Hermione, on the other hand, happened to be facing another mood swing, and instead of feeling upset and sad, she began cursing profusely.

"GOD DAMN WEASLEY TWINS! WHEN I FIND OUT WHICH DUMBASS DARED TO NOT USE A CONDOM I WILL RIP THEIR BALLS OFF AND SELL THEM ON THE BLACK MARKET FOR SOME OLD HAG'S POTION. THEY'LL NEVER HAVE SEX AGAIN AFTER I GET THROUGH WITH THEM! I SWEAR I'LL… I'LL… URGH!" She screamed startling the doctor so bad that she almost fell off her chair.

"Ms. Granger, please calm down! That's not good for the baby!" The elder witch urged the teen who slowly gained her calm feelings back. She was breathing heavily and looked like she seriously was about to kill someone. "I'm assuming you weren't aware that you were pregnant, and that you don't know who the father is."

"It's one of two people." Hermione said as she slid back onto the table. "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

"Oh, no. It's quite alright. I suppose I was just expecting a… er… different reaction."

"I'll cry when I get home." Hermione said, as if to reassure the doctor that she was a normal teen. The old witch nodded respectfully at the girl, for being considerate enough to not load all her problems onto the doctor.

"Well, in cases like this I have a couple pamphlets to give you that can maybe help you decide on what to do. Would you like me to tell the woman you came in with tonight?"

"NO! No. I couldn't possibly burden Mrs. Weasley like this." Hermione said rubbing her face tiredly. "I'll take the pamphlets and decide what to do from there."

"Sure." The woman said as she spun around and reached into a drawer to retrieve them.

"How… How long till I…"

"Five months. Mid-May is when the baby should be here." The doctor replied as she sorted out a stack of paper's. "I'm going to give you a prescription for some supplements that will help the child for now. Should you decide to have the baby just stop by and I'll help you schedule some check up's." Hermione nodded and accepted the multiple papers. The one of the top had a picture of a happy little toddler blinking a few times before bursting out in laughter. Quickly she folded them in half and shoved them into her pockets. Couldn't have Mrs. Weasley seeing them.

After thanking Dr. Codsby (she had almost forgotten to ask who to see when she decided on what to do) she turned and headed back to Molly Weasley with the prescription for the supplement's she'd need. After assuring the woman she wasn't sick or injured the two left for the Weasley's hometown's local pharmacy. Hermione had just told the older witch that the doctor had said that she needed some vitamin's because she was lacking the nutrition from not eating well lately.

When they returned home, all the Weasley children, Fleur, Mr. Weasley, and Harry sat in the living room nervously. Upon hearing the door open they all jumped to their feet (except Fleur who was much too tired for the day) and ran into the kitchen to see how things went. Hermione was a bit taken aback by their enthusiasm but soon smiled and assured them she was fine. The tension of the room seemed to melt away as everyone relaxed and began hugging Hermione. Fred just stood at the back of the room, with a relived look in his eyes. She wished he would walk over and hug her, but she didn't dare say so.

…**..**

_Wednesday Night, December 22__nd_

Hermione sat in her room, Ginny still being kind enough to give her another night of privacy, flipping through the pamphlets. She had been itching to look into the matter since she had gotten them, and finally she had some peace. Fred was no longer sleeping outside her door, but she could hear someone walk by very slowly every half an hour.

The pamphlets were pretty much what she expected. Some explaining the joys of parenthood, some emphasizing the hardships. One explained in detail how a baby could be aborted by drinking a thick, clear-colored potion which slowly reversed the process until the baby was just an egg and a dead sperm. Another potion that could be taken just burned the baby away until the womb was once again empty. Hermione shivered at the thought.

She was anti-abortion, so she quickly set fire to the abortion pamphlets and tossed the ashes in her bedside wastebasket. She refused to have any baby of hers die without a chance at life, even if it was accidentally created.

Another paper explained the steps to delivering a baby, tests, and other things to watch out for while pregnant.

For a while, after carefully concealing the papers and putting protection wards over them incase someone went snooping, she laid in bed and just thought.

Thought about what she'd tell her parents when she could no longer hide her soon to be growing stomach.

Thought about which Weasley twin it could have been.

Thought about how she'd raise it, and whether she should drop out of Hogwarts, but it would be delivered towards the end of the year, and she defiantly didn't want to quit.

And finally she thought about what it'd look like. Light red locks of hair, a face full of freckles, possibly her nose or brown, hazel eyes. It'd be cute, that was to be sure.

With all those images, questions, and 'what-if's' floating around in her head, Hermione finally fell asleep late that night. She didn't notice Fred Weasley pop his head into the door and tell her good night only a few minutes later.

…**..**

_Sunday Night, January 2__nd_

Hermione stood in the Headmistress's office, thankful that she was there that day. Everyone had just returned to the old castle, and dinner was still settling in their stomach's. She trusted the head boy and other prefects to lead the rest of the Gryffindor's up to the tower, while she made a stop by Headmistress McGonagall's office.

The old woman's jaw was still scraping the floor five minutes after Hermione had told her the news. The room felt awkward and the brunette wasn't sure whether to sit down or start running. Half an hour later, the old witch was able to compose herself enough to form words and communicate with Hermione.

"Never in my years did I ever expect you to tell me such a thing Miss Granger." Minerva said as she rested her head in her hands, leaning over Dumbledore's old desk, wearily. For a moment she pondered on what he would have done in a situation, but he was no longer with them, so such a thing couldn't be known.

"Who else knows?"

"Only Dr. Codsby at St. Mungo's."

"Who's the father?"

"Uh… about that…" Hermione started, not really sure how to pick her words.

"YOU DON'T KNOW?" McGonagall shouted as she jumped up startling Hermione.

"I was drunk! All I can remember is it was one of the Weasley twins."

Minvera's mouth seemed to hit the floor again. Drunk and with a Weasley twin. Hermione Granger must have lost her mind.

"When is it due?"

"May." Hermione said a bit nervously. She had tried to prepare herself mentally for this conversation, but she hadn't been entirely sure of what reaction she'd receive.

"No abortion, correct?" Oh, McGonagall was good.

"Most definitely." Abortion was to cruel. It was like killing a house elf. Evil.

"And you won't be putting it up for adoption?"

"Of course not!" Hermione said, sounding a bit flabbergasted. That was abandonment.

"I see. So what do you plan to do?"

"I was hoping you could help me. I want to finish school. I've decided in May, when I deliver it, I'll have my parents take care of it until I graduate. Then I'll raise it myself."

Minerva shook her head. A talented girl like Hermione Granger was planning on spending the rest of her life as a single mother. The Headmistress refused to except that.

"I can write some letters. Maybe I can help you get a job that will have a daycare close by so you can put your skills to good use and take care of the baby." McGonagall said as she ran through some job locations in her head. "We should probably find out which Weasley boy it was." With that, she pulled out a sheet of parchment and enchanted one of her quills to begin writing. The Weasley's had best know that they needed to interrogate their sons.

"Headmistress, I would rather not get the Weasley's involved. I don't want to bother them with helping to feed another mouth."

"Miss Granger. As a father of this baby, it is their responsibility to assist you."

"What if they don't remember either!"

"Fred and George, not remember from drinking too much? Between you and me, I know that they often ran off to Hogsmeade for a drink late at night. It'd get them expelled so I never said anything, but those two never listened to my warnings. Oh, they'll know all right. Fred's not back yet, since he asked for a bit of time off to help his brother invent some new things for their shop, otherwise I'd just call him up here and shove some truth potion down his throat."

Hermione smiled, as she stood in front of her Headmistress, grateful that such a wonderful woman was in charge of the school.

"I'll inform Madame Hooch that your broom riding lessons should be cancelled."

"Headmistress, I hate flying as much as I hate Malfoy," McGonagall gave her a look, but Hermione just ignored it and went on, "but if you were to suddenly put a stop to them, I think that would alert people that something's wrong. Madame Hooch is known for never letting a student just quit when learning to ride a broomstick. I don't really want to alert any attention to myself."

"What if you happen to fall and the baby dies?"

"I don't think Fred would let me fall." Hermione said to be honest. The Headmistress just raised an eyebrow, but nodded.

"Well then," Minerva said as she pulled another piece of parchment off a stack to the side of her desk, "When you notice that your stomach is growing noticeably larger, come see me again. I'll make sure to have just the thing by that time."

"Thank you, Professor."

Hermione felt a bit better as she departed from the Headmistress's office. McGonagall just felt a bit more troubled as she watched her leave.

…

_Thursday Morning, January 6__th_

George yawned loudly as he rolled out of bed and scratched the back of his head. He glanced up at a clock hanging on the wall and grimaced. It was too early to be out of bed, after pulling an all nighter in the laboratory with Fred. They had been working on a new type of candy that would make parts of your face slide around your body. It had taken hours to get Fred's nose off his chest and back into place.

He pulled a t-shirt and a pair of old jeans on, before making his daily trudge down the hall. As he passed Fred's room, he was happy to hear loud snoring. It had been lonely without his brother near, but George knew the two couldn't be together forever. They had their own lives to lead.

As George poured himself a cup of muggle coffee (the stuff was just too good not to drink on a daily basis), he heard tapping at the window. A large grey owl sat on the ledge just outside their kitchen, with a letter in it's beak. He seemed to have an urgent look in his eye, which was odd for an owl. When George noticed the marker around it's leg he quickly sprang across the kitchen to make entry for the owl.

It was the Headmistress's personal delivery owl.

Her fumbled with some owl treats, accepting the letter as he fed the large creature. After it was gone George hastily tore open the envelope that was addressed to 'The Weasley's'. He wasn't sure why the owl had came to them and not gone to their parents, since usually letters were addressed to one of the twins or both. Then he realized that in her haste, McGonagall must have forgotten to write an address, because there was none underneath. This meant the owl had just flown to the closest Weasley residence, which happened to be his apartment above their shop.

Since it was already open, he decided not to do the right thing and send it straight to his mother. George grinned as he wondered what trouble Ron or Ginny had gotten into in just a day's time. Harry would probably be involved somewhere in the mix.

For a moment he considered waking up Fred, but curiosity got the best of him so he just read it by himself.

_Dear Mr. and Mrs. Weasley,_

_This letter is to inform you that something rather unbelievable has happened._

George raised an eyebrow. It was a strange day when Minerva McGonagall was surprised.

_Hermione Granger approached me last eve, and informed me that on the trip your children, Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Potter, and Miss Lovegood, took this summer, they happened to drink a considerable amount._

Hermione told? That wasn't like her.

_Miss Granger blacked out, and woke up the next morning, realizing she had spent the night with someone, whom she could not recall._

Oh shit. George looked up towards Fred's room and glared. Stupid git didn't even tell her they slept together.

_She was able to determine it was either Fred or George, but she still can't remember which one it happened to be._

Fred would kill George if he had even tried.

_It turns out that, on that night, they didn't use protection._

"OH BLOODY HELL!" George shouted as he stared down at the letter in disbelief. Immediately a loud thump could be heard from Fred's bedroom. Apparently he had startled his twin brother and he had jumped off the bed, only to fall flat on his face.

_Hermione had told me that she is willing to raise the baby by herself, but I don't think such a thing can be tolerated. I hope that you will thoroughly interrogate your sons to find out which one it was. Hermione is against abortion and putting it up for adoption, so the baby is due in mid-May, which leaves quite some time to find out._

More thumping could be heard from Fred's room as he jumped to get dressed and see what was going on.

_I hope that one of them will come clean and offer to help her, since she is already so close to the family. When the father is confirmed please reply back quickly._

_Sinceraly,_

_Minerva McGonagallHeadmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Before Fred could leave his room, George quickly folded up the letter and shoved it into the envelope. He quickly slid them into his back pocket and hid the owl treat container.

Fred burst out of his room looking around for trouble.

"What's going on? Why did you shout?"

"It was nothing. I just found out that England lost to Germany this weekend." George said as he pointed to the front page of the Daily Prophet which had arrived earlier that morning. They often kept a couple knuts on the table, and the skylight open so it could just come and they didn't have to wake up any earlier to pay the owl.

"Oh. Well damn. I just lost five galleons to Lee." Fred murmured as he slid back into his room to try and sleep a bit longer.

George wasn't sure why he wasn't trying to strange his stupid brother. What idiot didn't use protection?

He felt the letter in his pocket and slowly sat down at the kitchen table, feeling as if a boulder had just been put on his shoulders, weighing him down.

Fred liked Hermione. Fred slept with Hermione. Fred got Hermione pregnant.

But would he help Hermione take care of a baby? George had spent his whole life with his twin, but such a problem had never arisen, so the answer wasn't so clear.

George clenched his fists. He thought about Hermione's feelings. She probably wanted Fred to come out and say they slept together. Why hadn't Fred already done so? He hoped his brother wasn't such a dunderhead that he'd just run off and leave Hermione to be a single mother like McGonagall feared.

George felt himself grow irritated with his brother, which was something that happened rarely. Slowly a grin creeped across his face as a plan formed in his head.

He returned to his bedroom and pulled out a sheet of parchment and a quick note quill. Quietly he mumbled out a letter for McGonagall.

_Dear Headmistress,_

_George Weasley here. It turns out my idiotic brother did 'that' with poor Hermione when she was smashed. I happen to know, that Fred does like Hermione though, but he's too stupid to admit it to her. I'm very angry at him right now, and I want to make him pay for causing Hermione to suffer for these past four months. I hope that you will follow along with this and reply back to me soon._

_Even if Fred doesn't take responsibility for the child (which if he doesn't I'll gut him) then I'll help her raise it._

_If she ask's tell Hermione you haven't gotten a reply back yet._

_George Weasley_

_PS: You forgot to write an address, so this letter came to me, instead of my parents. I would rather they not know about this just yet._

The game had began.

…**..**

Hermione shivered as she felt him turn her over to face him. His lips were soft and the friction their bodies made, felt like electricity was running through her veins.

She heard herself moan as he thrusted into her again.

"Shit." He whispered against her mouth. She could feel one of his hands on her hips, the other pressed against her back to help support her. One of her hands was clawing at his back while the other grabbed at his hair.

It was soft, and had a nice red color.

She slowly opened her blurry eyes to look at him. His face was flushed, dotted with brown freckles. His bright blue eyes were staring down at her with a transfixed look. It was enough to make her want to scream. Which she did. He had put wards on the room to keep people out, and the noise in, thankfully. Both of her hands moved to his back where she could feel her nails digging. He didn't seem to notice.

"Ah. Hermione." He whispered as he kissed her neck.

"Oh Merlin." She groaned softly.

"Wrong name." The man on top of her said with a chuckle. "Try again."

"Fred… stop teasing and hurry up. I can't take this anymore."

She felt his one of his hands move to her breasts as he began to kiss her again. He moved against her hips faster and she thought she was going to go insane with the rhythm.

"Ah." She said breathlessly as her eyes shot open and her back arched. "Fred!"

She heard him growl at the back of his throat as he pushed into her a few more times before collapsing on top of her.

She felt warm and sticky, but she didn't mind. Fred was holding her and that was all that really mattered.

…

_Thursday Morning, January 6th_

Hermione jumped up as her dream sat fresh in her mind. Her eyes widened as she remembered who it was she had slept with.

At the back of her mind, she was thinking it was kind of sick for a pregnant girl to be having sex dreams, but that wasn't important at the moment.

It wasn't really a sex dream. It was a memory from their trip that summer.

She had slept with Fred.

She bounded out of bed and shouted with joy. She was ecstatic it was Fred and not George (not that there was anything wrong with George).

But she stumbled as another realization hit her.

She had been spending a lot of time alone with Fred recently… but he hadn't said one word about it.

Had he forgotten? No. McGonagall had assured her that the twins would remember.

Fred was ashamed of sleeping with Hermione.

She felt her heart drop and ache painfully.

That day she didn't leave her room. After putting up silent charms and making sure the door was quadruple locked, she laid in her bed, and cried.

…

**A/N: Oh George! You sly dog, you! **

**So here's a bit more smut (mostly for you Elizabeth, since you seem to like the perverted parts of this story more than anything. Haha!) and after everything's done, I'll probably write a chapter of just FredxHermione smut, so look forward to it! **


	12. Don't Trust Cats

**Disclaimer: JKR own's everything except Aadyn and Markus (not like they appear much, though)**

**B/N: Yay! I'm finally at my dad's house, and thank god the neighbors leave their internet connection open so I can steal it! Haha, I mean… what? Steal? That's awful. **

**I finally got a beta? Oh my! **

…

_Friday Evening, January 7th_

Hermione sat at the top of the astronomy tower and stared out over the grounds. The sun was low in the sky, indicating that it would set in less than an hour and let the star's have their time to shine.

Her arms were wrapped around her legs and her chin resting against her knee caps. Her hair was growing more tangled with the wind rushing through the tower, but she didn't care.

For the first time in her life she was actually skipping a lesson.

She couldn't face Fred at flying lessons so soon, so she just decided to face her fears and sit up high for a while. She would just consider it part of the overall lesson.

She watched owls fly to and from the school's Owlery in the next tower over, and sighed. Everyone else at Hogwarts was perfectly fine.

Why was her last year all messed up?

She thought about Harry and Ron, and wondered when she should tell them about the baby. She didn't like hiding things from them, but she knew they'd start acting weird around her and Ron would say something to give it away. When it came to children he had always seemed a bit awkward, even if he had been raised with so many siblings. Harry would probably understand, but if she told one she'd have to tell the other as well; not just one best friend could know something this important.

Hermione's eyes caught site of a Centaur herd running through an open part of the Forbidden Forest. She was too busy watching them to notice the visitor come up behind her.

"Hermione Granger: The Skipper. That's a new title," Fred said as he dismounted his broom and set it down on the tower ground.

Hermione jumped and had to brace herself to keep from hitting her head on one of the metal railings. "I didn't feel good today, so I thought I'd come up here… and it would kind of count." She quickly looked away from him, turning to look back at the centaurs, but they were all out of sight.

"Not feeling good? That's never stopped you before," he said, sitting down next to her on the stone floor. Hermione gave him a sideways glance before gripping the railing bar's in both of her hands.

"Did you need something?"

"No. I was just curious as to where you went. You'll need to make up the lesson, so stop by the pitch tomorrow when you have some free time," Fred said scratching the back of his neck lazily. He wasn't at all on edge about being so close to her; she was just a one night stand after all.

"I'll be sick tomorrow too," she replied coldly, not turning her attention away from Hedwig, who had just departed from the Owlery. She wondered if Harry was sending a letter off, or if she was just hunting for dinner.

She could feel Fred turn his full attention to her. "Sunday then."

"Still sick."

"Hermione…"

"Just tell everyone I gave up. I'm not meant for flying anyways," she said as she made to get up. Fred's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, holding her down.

"What happened?" He was looking at her seriously.

'_Oh no, oh no, oh no._' She mentally panicked, trying to snatch her arm away from his grasp.

"Nothing. I just don't want to fly anymore."

"If you're afraid of falling I won't let you."

"Fred let go!"

"Hermione, what's wrong?"

She pulled out her wand and aimed it straight at his arm with a 'I'll do it' look in her eyes. Slowly Fred let go and raised his hands up as a sign that he surrendered.

"Sorry, Mione. I'm just worried about you."

"I highly doubt that," she growled, but he could see tears beginning to form her eyes. With that she began her descent down the winding staircase, leaving a confused and irritated Fred to sit in the tower. She didn't see the way he beat his fist against the floor in agitation.

…**..**

_Saturday Morning, January 8th_

After that, Fred and Hermione tried to avoid each other as much as possible. She met with McGonagall to tell her she had changed her mind about the flying lessons. The Headmistress only nodded as she began a letter to Madame Hooch.

"Hermione," Minerva called before Hermione could turn to leave her office. "I've decided that we shouldn't wait until you notice changes in your body to give this to you." The elderly witch reached into a drawer at the side of Dumbledore's old desk and pulled out a piece of clothing that looked exactly like a regular school robe.

"A new robe?"

"Yes, but this is one I had specially enchanted. It was done faster than I expected so I think you should just start wearing it now before anything is noticeable to others," McGonagall said handing it over the desk to Hermione. She slipped off her old robe and put on the new one. She looked down, expecting to see some change in her body, but she looked normal.

"Um. Headmistress… What exactly does this do?" The brunette asked as she tried to turn to look at herself from different angles.

"The spells placed on this are often what magical models, actress's, and just regular witch's use when they don't want people to notice their growing bodies. Sometimes bigger witches will wear them while loosing a lot of weight, and shock her friends and family with the transformation. In your case, no one should be able to notice the baby that's slowly getting bigger in your stomach," McGonagall explained as she looked Hermione over carefully. "This is your first time wearing it, so it'll make you look just like that until we get it re-enchanted."

Hermione folded up her old cloak and draped it over her arm. "Thank you Headmistress."

"If you anything happens to you, don't hesitate to let me know." Hermione nodded and turned, opening the door to leave.

"Oh, and Miss Granger," Minerva called out, "I personally feel you should leave your bedroom window open tonight."

Hermione turned to ask her why, but the woman was already gone.

…**.**

_Sunday Morning, January 9__th_

When Hermione woke up she found a letter sitting on her desk along with a couple owl feathers. A secret message?

She was surprised that George was contacting her. Bad scenarios that involved dead Weasleys passed through her head, and she quickly tore open the envelope. What was written inside wasn't what she had expected.

_Hermione,_

_I heard about your situation from McGonagall (an accident, but it's a good thing I got it and not my parents, or we'd have one big mess). I'm not sure if you've figured it out by now, but that night it was Fred you slept with._

Hermione felt a twinge of pain in her chest. Even George knew they slept together.

_Want to get Fred back for being an asshole?_

Hermione's eyes widened as she subconsciously began nodding her head, as if George could understand her through the letter.

_First, I want to see how he scales as a person. I may have known him my whole life, but even we have different views on some aspects. If he fails the test, I'll shoot his testicles off with one of those neat Muggle firecrackers. If he passes, I have a plan to make him admit it, but you have to be open for it if you really want to get him._

_There are only five questions you need to get answers from for the test. Lee and I already got answers to two of those, but you're responsible for the last three._

_1.) Do you like kids?_

_2.) Dogs or Cat's? Answer: Cats (-1 point)_

Hermione furrowed her eyebrow's, not entirely why cats were a bad thing to like. She loved cats, personally. Underneath the answer, in tiny print, she could see the words _He's like a cat already. If he likes them that just proves he relates to how sly and cunning they are._ Hermione tried not to laugh to hard at George's strange thinking.

_3.) Have you ever been in real love?_

_4.) Do you respect people with higher authority? Answer: If they're worth respecting (+1 point)_

_5.) When was the last time you cried?_

Of course, she had to find a way to get the three hardest questions. She sighed, wondering if this was way more work than it was worth, but George seemed heartfelt in his plans. And once you got a Weasley twin started, it was hard to make them stop.

She folded up the letter and stuck it in the pocket of her new set of robes. As she laid back on her bed early that morning, she contemplated how she'd go about getting the answers, when she suddenly remembered their fight (if you could call it that) just two days before.

Instead of panicking, she considered her options rationally. She had two. Ignore George's plan, and just continue her life knowing she let Fred go about his own like a normal guy while she raised their baby. She didn't want to be responsible for holding him down with a child. She'd be eaten up by guilt, even if it was equally his fault.

Her other option would be to let someone in on what was happening. Someone she could trust to stay quiet, who was also close to Fred as it was.

Just at that moment, a knock sounded at Hermione's door making her jump. Quickly she pulled the door open to find Ginny standing before her looking a bit worried. Before the red head could say anything, the brunette grabbed her by her arm and pulled her into her room.

"You're just the person I need to talk to."

…**.**

_Sunday Afternoon, January 9__th_

Ginny shuffled down the stone path that led to the quidditch pitch at the bottom of the hill. From the ground she could see one of her older brothers zipping around in the air, doing somersaults and sideways rolls. Surprisingly, he wasn't trying to beat Bludgers with a club like he normally did. She wondered if something was wrong with him too.

Once she reached the Co-ed Quidditch locker rooms, she grabbed her broom out of her locker and zoomed out, right into the air. She caught up to Fred in no time, catching his attention and making him lower down to meet her.

"Hey Gin. What's up?" He seemed out of breath, like he had been doing the tricks for a while now.

"I could ask you the same thing. You seem out of it today. Something happen?"

He took a deep breath and leaned back a bit on his broom. "It's nothing. I'm just feeling a bit frustrated lately." His sister raised her eyebrows in surprise. Fred was usually so playful and relatively carefree.

"Want to talk about it?" She said, squinting her eyes against the sun that was shining brightly above them.

"I don't really know…" Fred admitted, trying his best to produce a smile for her. "Let's just say I've said some stupid things and made someone I care about angry with me."

"Someone you love?"

Fred didn't say anything but stared out at the lake. In the distance, a long, tentacle of the lakes largest occupant stuck out before retreating quickly.

"I'll just take that as a yes, then."

"Ginny…"

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed."

"Gin, it's not like-"

"I won't even tell George!" She pleaded, in that cute 'younger sister' kind of way. He stared at her for a moment before admitting defeat. His sister was pretty much the only person at Hogwarts he could confide in and not be afraid that a secret would be spilled. He motioned for her to follow him up to the astronomy tower where they landed and settled down, with their legs sticking out between the balcony's railings.

"So who is it. Is she pretty? Or is it a guy?" She asked quickly, making Fred's face twist up at the last suggestion.

"No, my wand doesn't swisher and flick that way. But she is pretty." He said, trailing off as he started to daydream.

"Is she nice? Smart? A Gryffindor? Or are you into those Hufflepuffs?" She wiggled her eyebrows in only a way that the younger sister of the Weasley Twins could do.

"Ginny. Between you and me, I'm a teacher, or at least an intern right now. I can't have relationships with studen-"

"Hermione right?" She finally asked making him blink in shock and look down at her.

"Wha… What?"

"I'm not a complete dolt, Fred. You're always watching her, and so far this year, whenever she's been hurt, you've been the one to run to the rescue."

Fred looked down at the grounds, embarrassed by his sisters observations. "I suppose…"

"So, you had a fight with her. That happens."

Fred pressed his head against the metal bars and let out a sigh. "It's more than that Gin. I keep messing up a lot of things. If she knew everything she'd probably… well, I'd rather not think of that."

But she knew and couldn't help but imagine her brother trying to explain to the family that he had had his testicles hexed off by a very angry Hermione.

They sat in silence for a while, just thinking. Lunch would be over soon, and Ginny would have to get back to her next Transfiguration class. So she tried to figure out how to word her question so as to not alarm her brother.

"What you feel for Hermione. Are you sure it's real love?"

"Real?" He snorted, "I would hope so. My heart goes nuts and my stomach begins to knot up whenever I see her. The way she never gives up when she's trying to learn something… And how her cheeks get all red when she's really angry and her voice goes up an octave when she scolds people. Even if she had a flu she'd still be trying to help the whole Gryffindor house on their homework, not complaining or whining. Not to mention the way she looks at you when she thinks you're going to kiss her, and the eyes she has once you're done. She tries to act tough on the outside, but underneath she's actually really weak. She's amazing."

Ginny stared at her brother, quite surprised. She had never heard him talk all lovey-dovey before. Normally he was cool and nonchalant with girls he fancied, but here he was, talking about the girl he liked in such a romantic way.

Well, she'd accept that answer as a yes for the '_Have you ever been in real love?_'. She wondered if she had time to fit one more in. Students wandering the grounds weren't returning back to castle just yet.

"I see. Why don't you just tell her?"

"Tell her? She… I don't know Gin. Every imaginary scenario I go through in my mind always turn out bad."

"I wonder what your kids would look like," Ginny mumbled, a grin on her face at the thought.

"Kids?" He said, having not really thought about them before.

"Yeah. You don't like kids?"

"They're fine and all, but I'd probably just use them as guinea pigs for George and I's experiments," Fred said, the thought making him chuckle. "Kind of like how I treat Ron."

Sadly, Ginny counted that as a No for her other question about liking kids, even if he had said they were 'fine'.

"Ginny… You won't tell Hermione that I like her, right?"

"Of course not Fred. No one will get a word out of me about your feelings for Hermione," she said, holding her hand up like a girl scout. Fred gave one of his cute grins and ruffled her hair. He couldn't deny that he felt better after talking to Ginny.

…**..**

_Later that night_

Hermione and Ginny made sure everyone had gone off to bed, before sneaking off to the Seventh Year's bedroom for a late night talk.

Ginny relayed Fred's answers, as Hermione copied them down on the note George had sent her. So far there were two negative answers and two positive answers. Everything rested on the last question, which Hermione wasn't even sure how George with score it.

A guy like Fred, faced with the question of '_When was the last time you cried_', would most likely give an answer like "Cry? Not since I was three, and Charlie turned my favorite chocolate frog card into a marshmallow that didn't even taste good." On second thought, that's an answer Ron would give. She wasn't entirely sure what kind of response Fred would give her.

She'd never seen him get as emotional as crying.

"Hermione, I don't know if I can get that answer out of him. I think we should just send an owl to George and tell him it's not possible."

"We should at least give it a shot. Fred's probably still mad at me, but I'll get the answer from him… even… even if I have to make a truth potion and stuff it down his throat." Though questions about crying wouldn't be the only thing she'd ask him, if it did come to that.

"Well, it is the question that decides his fate," Ginny said heaving a sigh. Hermione gave her a small smile, happy that her troubles were no longer on her and the Headmistress's shoulders alone.

"Thanks Ginny. I'd probably be more of a mess right now if you weren't here to help me," Hermione murmured appreciatively.

Ginny glanced up at her older brunette friend and clasped the girls hands in her own. "We've known each other for six years, plus you're the mother of my nephew or niece. Not to mention my brother needs a kick in the butt once in a while… Well, they all do, but we'll start one at a time," she said with a laugh that helped relax Hermione's nerves.

The two sat in silence before Hermione pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment, her favorite quill, and began scribbling out a reply letter to George. Ginny decided not to ask questions. If Hermione changed her mind about something it was her choice.

When she was done, Hermione decided to let Ginny in on what she had written. "I told him that I'd write if I found out the answer to the last question, but I most likely won't since Fred and I aren't talking right now."

"Stupid George. Giving us tough questions." Ginny muttered crossing her arms. Hermione smiled as she rolled up the note and slipped it into the red head's fingers. "So what do we do now?"

"We wait." Hermione said as she rested her hands on her stomach.

…

**A/N: DONE!**

**Thanks, Audrey414, for taking the time to beta this!**


	13. A Chapter of CHEESE

**Disclaimer: The stories mine, Aadyn's mine, and that other dude whose name I've forgotten. Rest is J.K. Rowlings~!**

**B/N: Hey guys! This fic is close to an end! (Ho-my-gosh! Phantom's not just abandoning one of her stories like usual and leaving it without and ending?) Yes… I feel responsible to this one. Just a little.**

…**.**

_Sunday Morning, April 3rd_

Hermione sat in the great hall, pushing a pumpkin tart around her plate sleepily. Owls littered the ceiling in search of their letters, package's, or papers owner. Harry and Ron were arguing about a potions project while Ginny was trying to convince Neville that Quidditch wasn't a terribly unsafe sport. She wasn't winning.

Hermione had been growing. She didn't dare take off her robe unless her door was locked and she had put up sufficient wards around her room. Her stomach was triple the size it had been before and she had become extra cautious of her movements in the hall. If anyone came within inches of touching her she'd automatically recoil and wait in a corner. They couldn't see what was protruding from her robes, but she could sure feel it and had become paranoid with staying away from people.

Her classmates and teachers easily noticed that she was late to most of her classes now. Her teachers, who didn't know the circumstances but knew she was to be left alone, just gave her warnings and told her to be seated. Her fellow Gryffindor's weren't sure what to make of it. Their most punctual, uptight, head of house was slowly falling apart.

Harry and Ron had eventually caught on to the fact that she wasn't like her usual self. They questioned her, trying to find out what could be troubling her. They finally stopped when Ginny barked at them to back off; Ron had turned as red as his hair and stomped off, while Harry just gave the two girls a hurt look and went off after him.

Hermione was becoming a big ball of guilt.

A couple days later she apologized to the boys who, to her relief, had decided to drop the questions and let her be. They two had talked about it and finally came to one conclusion. Girl problems.

Hermione finally got up the nerve to take a bite of her pumpkin tart, but after bringing it towards her mouth she stopped, sighed, and pushed it away. Her eyes wandered around and finally rested on a boy laughing at the Ravenclaw table.

Aadyn had easily adjusted to his new life at Hogwarts. Every Monday he'd show up at the tower and escort Hermione to their joint Runes class. He was sweet, thoughtful, and really cute.

She really wished she could fall in love with him, even if he did have skunk colored hair (which looks better than you think).

As she looked him over he happened to feel her eyes upon him and turned his head slightly to wink at her. She smiled, but no longer blushed. All the girls in the tables between them who thought he was winking at them did though.

Ron tapped on Hermione's shoulder pulling her attention back to their table. "Are you going to eat that?" he asked pointing to her tart. She did a quick survey and found that the whole bowl nearby had been devoured in a matter of minutes.

"Not really," she said lifting her plate and letting the pastry fall onto his own. He muttered his thanks before picking it up with his fingers and made to put it in his mouth when suddenly he stopped and dropped it.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked as he munched on some Berti Botts Beans he had bought the last time they went to Hogsmeade.

Ron lifted up his finger and showed a trail of blood that was running down it. "There's something sharp in that tart." He quickly picked up his knife and began to cut open the pumpkin flavored pastry. Inside were multiple little, rusted, tacks. Hermione grabbed Ron's hand and pointed her wand at his cut, quickly muttering a cleaning spell. It would be bad if he got some infection from the rust.

"Hermione. You almost ate that! I almost ate that! How did it get tacks in it!" Ron said once she had finished with his finger. She looked down at the sabotaged tart with distaste. The attacks on her were becoming more and more frequent as the weeks went by. She really wanted Malfoy to just come out and admit that it was him, but he just sneered at her from across the hall whenever she caught his gaze. Ruddy bastard.

"We should tell a teacher," Harry said as he made a move to get up. Hermione quickly jumped up and grabbed his arm pulling him back into his seat.

"The teachers are already on edge as it is with the problems the Ministry is having with McGonagall. It's probably some nasty joke the Slytherins did. Leave it be."

She did her best to ignore the stares of disbelief her friends were giving her. Hermione, at the beginning of the year, would have rushed up the teachers, tart in hand, and demanded an investigation. When she couldn't stand it anymore she quickly added, "They'll blame the poor house elves and they'll be in loads of trouble."

That seemed to ease them up a bit.

Hermione looked down at the pieces of tart and tacks on her plate, thinking back to the months that had gone by.

First it had been the Quidditch Quaffle that pelted her in the face, even though no one was said to be on the field playing at the time. Then it had been the Exploding Mudprints that had caused some major damage on her body. It seemed though, that after those big things happened, Malfoy got smart and started using little things. Poisons Toads in her pockets. The plants in Herbology class, which she stood right across from Malfoy in, would try to snake around her legs and pull her into the ground (the dangerous Earth Eater Plant). An owl would suddenly be swooping low and almost dig it's claws into her eye sockets if she hadn't had noticed it only moments before.

Was Malfoy trying to kill her? They had butted heads for years but it was just between charms and jokes that would embarrass the other, like he did with Harry and Ron. Spiteful, but not deadly… or at least not permanently damaging.

With the baby inside her that made everything double as dangerous. She had let her guard down and could have ended up swallowing the tacks if she had eaten the tart whole like everyone does. Luckily Ron had squeezed it hard enough and felt one of the tacks. She wouldn't have been able to forgive herself if he had eaten it instead.

Suddenly, as everything began to settle down and the students returned to eating their meals, Hermione felt a kick in her stomach. She tried not to show her surprise, having not expected it. Slowly her hands moved toward her stomach which felt small because of the robe, but she could still feel the little feet hitting against it. Ginny loved talking to the baby. Late at night the two would sit up and talk about names and what it would grow up to be.

Hermione had decided to leave the gender a mystery until it arrived. She had continually visited her doctor on weekends when everyone went to Hogsmeade. She'd just sneak off to McGonagall's and the elderly Headmistress would Floo them to St. Mungo's.

There were lots of things that while pregnant Hermione was not permitted to do. No apparating anywhere. No flying a broom alone (in the third trimester). She could use the fireplace and some floo powder but only twice a day since it tended to upset the baby and make her sick. No Whiz Diz Wand treats because they aren't healthy for the baby.

The list of foods was enormous as was the list of physical activities that Hermione never did anyways.

One day that past February the Headmistress had taken her and Ginny to the Granger's house to relinquish the news to her parents. The dentists hadn't taken it well. Especially when they learned about the situation with Fred.

"That boy did… did 'that' with my daughter, and acts as if nothing happened! That little cretin! I'll rip all of his molars out without Novocain!" Mr. Granger hollered.

"His canines! Don't forget his canines!" His wife urged.

"I like your parents," Ginny whispered to Hermione, earning a nod from McGonagall who had heard her.

After they had settled down and Hermione talked with her parents for quite some time, they had finally come around. She explained that she planned to get a job near a daycare and raise her child in the magical world so that she could work too. Her parents looked a bit depressed to hear there daughter wasn't planning on living near them, but she promised to visit often.

After the message Hermione had sent George, he hadn't replied. She wondered if he had given up or gotten bored with the plan. Fred still acted as if nothing happened and whenever Hermione and him passed each other in the hall they were silent.

She longed to grab him by the shoulders and shake him until he turned purple and say that he slept with her. Then she could tell him about the baby, and it wouldn't have to be raised by a single mother.

But she didn't. So he didn't say anything. So the baby was still, in a sense, fatherless.

…**...**

_Thursday Afternoon, April 7__th_

Ginny ran across the grounds of Hogwarts, sweat dripping down her brow, and worry smeared across her face. She looked like she was running from Voldemort himself, but he was gone, and this had nothing to do with that. When she arrived on the pitch she noticed some brooms of Hufflepuff players swooshing around in the air during practice. She turned right and left before finally finding Fred standing to the back of the field, with his hand shielding the sun's light so he could watch the team's movement.

Ginny ran up to him gripping his shoulders to gain his attention. "Fred!"

"Whoa, Ginny. What's wrong?" He said instantly becoming rigid when he saw the state his sister was in. "Did something happen?"

"It's…." She gasped trying to catch her breath. After coughing for a moment she found her voice and looked at Fred, her eyes cast over in a serious way. "It's Hermione. Some Ravenclaw girls found her in the girls bathroom lying in a pool of blood. She's hurt really badly! They took her to St. Mungo's."

She had barely gotten out the words hurt before he was on his broom that had been laying nearby, and flying off towards the Headmistress Office. When he go there, he found it empty, but easily unlocked the window and snuck in. He grabbed the box of Floo Powder and was shouting "St. Mungo's" before any of the portraits noticed he was there.

He arrived in the main lobby, shooting across the floor and to the nearest nurse. "Hermione Granger!"

"The doctors are with her right now in surgery. You'll have to wait," The elderly male wizard who was sitting behind the desk said.

Fred felt his heart stop. "Where can I go to wait?"

"Seventh floor. Third hallway. First door on left."

In moments Fred was down the hallway. His walking had become shaky but he had finally made it there.

When he reached the waiting room he was told the young female nurse behind the desk who he was waiting for. She just smiled and motioned for him to sit down. _Smile? Smile! Hermione was injured badly! How could he smile!_

Half an hour passed before Hermione was finally out of surgery and resting in a room.

The nurse lead him down the hallway, finally stopping at a door numbered '3453 Granger, Hermione'.

He slowly ventured in, closing the door behind him.

"Hermione." He said as he sat down on a stool next to her.

Silence.

"God, Hermione. I've been so worried."

No response.

"Hermione. Please be okay." Fred grabbed Hermione's hand in his own and squeezed it. "Damn it. If you don't recover I won't get to apologize." She just laid there, breathing. Suddenly he remembered something a doctor had said when his uncle had been in a temporary coma. Sometimes people could still hear you even if they weren't conscious. No one else was in the room, and the door was shut so that no one in the hall could disturb them.

"Um… I'm really sorry for hurting you. I made you cry a while back when we were in the tower." Fred glanced down at her hand, unable to look her in the face. "I should have just given you space. If you were getting too stressed out with flying, you could have told me. Or if you are just annoyed with me, you could have told me that too. I know I'm obnoxious, and I tend to say the wrong thing to people I care about. Plus I really care about you, and so that means that everything I say is wrong. Maybe I should just go and leave you alone." He mumbled moving his hand out of hers. When he felt her squeeze his hand lightly he jumped, quickly moving back.

"Hermione?"

Quiet.

"Okay, then I guess I'll just keep talking. Jeez, I sound like Ron. What a dork." He laughed but stopped when he glanced up at Hermione's face. "You get mad at me a lot. More so than George. I figured you didn't like me. Especially after that night this past summer." He sighed and moved his hand so that his fingers were intertwined with Hermione's. "I meant what I said that night, but since you haven't mentioned anything about it, I haven't brought it up either. You looked so mad the next morning. I don't regret it though."

Fred grew quiet as he just sat staring at their fingers.

"Why?" Hermione whispered. Her eyes were open a bit but tears were visible in them.

"Hermione!" he said ecstatically not sure what to do. He was so happy that he wanted to hug her, but he felt he needed to alert the doctors. "How are you feeling?"

"Why don't you regret it?" Was all she said.

The tops of Fred's cheeks turned a light red as he looked out the window, avoiding her face. "I told you that night."

"I can't remember that night," she murmured sleepily. Fred's eyes widened as he looked back at her.

"You… you can't remember…?"

"Bits and parts, but it's become kind of fuzzy. I drank to much. So why don't you regret it. I thought you weren't saying anything because you didn't care." Hermione was caught by surprise when Fred jumped out of his seat and was leaning over her. Her eyes widened as she stared into his fierce blue ones.

"Didn't care… Didn't care! How could I… I thought you knew that I… I mean, you said it too…" He sputtered.

"Said what?" She asked, more awake now than before.

"That I love you."

The words were sweet relief that washed over her like a cool wave on a hot summers day. "Thank god," she whispered.

"What?" He said, a bit embarrassed and still debating on whether he should run to get a doctor. She looked stable, a bit pale though. Needles were in her arms keeping her heart rate steady. Fred finally decided he should run and get someone.

A short, elderly witch came hobbling in with a little nametag that read Dr. Codsby. She gave Fred a surly look before coming to stand beside Hermione.

"You gave me quite the scare Miss Granger. If you had been any later in arriving I would have crushing news for you right now." The old woman said as she flipped the papers in her chart, nodding thoughtfully.

"It's okay, right?" Hermione whimpered, her voice rough from fatigue. Fred could feel the charms on her. Charms to stop pain. Charms to calm nerves. No wonder she was so tired with all of them covering her like multiple blankets.

"Yes, yes. Still alive and well."

"What's okay?" Fred asked confused as he glanced from Hermione to the doctor.

"Is he…?" Dr. Codsby mumbled to Hermione who gave a small smile and tried her best to nod unsuccessfully. "Ahem. Well, Mr….?"

"Weasley."

"Ah yes. Mr. Weasley. As you probably…" The elderly woman glanced down to see Hermione shaking her head. "don't know… your baby is fine. It kicked too hard and cut off some circulations in a couple of tubes, but they were fixed easily. Everything is fine and it'll be here right on schedule, mid-May. I'll see you later young lady. If you feel anything is wrong don't hesitate to contact me."

"Yes ma'am," Hermione said as she settled back down into her bed and let her eyes wander over to meet Fred's.

He was standing very still, much like a statue.

Not moving.

Hardly breathing.

Slowly his eyes wandered to the mound under Hermione's bed sheets that he had completely missed seeing before. He had been so concerned with Hermione that he hadn't even noticed that her stomach was much larger than normally.

"Hermione…?" He finally whispered in a hoarse voice.

"Yeah, Fred?" She said as she let her hands rest on her stomach.

"Are you…?"

She nodded.

"With my… baby?"

"Yeah."

"Because of that night?"

"Yes."

Slowly he sat back down on the stool, his eyes never leaving her stomach. "C… Can I touch it? Does it hurt?"

"Yes and no." His hand reached out nervously at first, but when his palm finally rested on her stomach, he seemed to relax and could breath easily again.

"Why… why didn't you tell me?" Was all he could manage to say.

"For a while, I didn't know who I slept with that night. We all got smashed at the beach house; I was still suspicious of all of you. It wasn't until January that I finally realized it was you I had slept with. We had already been alone together numerous times, but you never said anything. After a while… I felt that you thought of me as a one night stand. That night your mom took me to the hospital around Christmas, Dr. Codsby told me I was pregnant, and I was really shocked. I guess we aren't careful when we're drunk," she whispered as she raised one of her hands to rub her forehead nervously. Tears brimmed her vision and she quickly looked away.

"I told Headmistress McGonagall, and she helped me, but I couldn't tell your mom. The Headmistress tried to send your parents a letter letting them know that I didn't know who the father was and that they should interrogate you and George. Apparently the letter ended up in George's hands and he found out. And he was pretty mad at you when he found out that you hadn't said anything about sleeping with me." She moved the hand from her forehead and quickly used the back of it to cover her eyes.

"Then he had this plan all together and I had to tell Ginny cause she agreed to help me, but it was a bit too complicated. So we decided to just wait a while and see what happened. And my parents threatened to pull out your molars… And then I was in the bathroom, and all this blood was dripping down my legs… and my stomach was hurting so badly and I was really scared but I passed out before I could get help and… and…"

Fred carefully moved her over to the far side of the bed, before climbing into the large empty portion. He wrapped his arms around her, as she shivered and cried.

"So your parents want my molars?" Was all he said earning a wet laugh from Hermione as she tried to dry her eyes. Finally she had to use Fred's shirt but stopped right before she rubbed her eyes on it.

The warm, comforting, familiar smell of cinnamon was on him. She nestled against him and finally he felt her fall asleep in his arms.

…**..**

_Saturday Morning, April 16__th_

Ron wasn't sure if he should strange his brother with a snake or beat him over the head with a two sided axe. Fred had knocked up one of his best friends. They may have been brothers but even Ron had lines that shouldn't be crossed.

Harry wasn't sure if he should congratulate the couple, since they had finally gotten together after Hermione came back to the hospital, or if he should join Ron in beating up Fred.

Ginny was just trying not to laugh as the mix of emotions came to play in the room.

They were all settled in McGonagall's office, the old witch having gone off to visit the Ministry after meeting with them. Hermione was perched in one of the softer chairs of the office, with Fred standing to the side, trying to not notice his siblings' and friends' gaze.

"Who else knows about the baby?" Hermione asked Ginny, who blinked in surprise as she turned away from the silent fight that was taking place.

"Well, when you fell your robe slipped… The Ravenclaw girls aren't known for gossip, but they can't keep secrets very well… And among their few Hufflepuff friends the word got out quickly. So… I'm going to say the whole school knows."

"Oh. Well, I guess I don't have to wear that robe anymore," Hermione mumbled, shrugging. She had grown to dislike it since it kept hiding her baby from her view.

"Maybe you should, Hermione. They'll think they're just rumors. Besides, someone's got it in for you and if they find out that the rumors about you being pregnant were right, they'll go right for the baby," Harry advised as a sudden tension filled the room. Hermione had told Ginny about the attacks after she had became too nervous about them, and Ginny had apparently felt it was important to let her friends in on it.

"The important thing is to find out who it is before they plan something and Hermione has a miscarriage," Fred said looking at his friends and family worriedly.

"I don't think Hermione should go anywhere alone. At least not during the day. That's when they seem to strike most," Ron said.

They set up schedules.

Ginny would stay be her in the mornings, whenever she had to go to the bathroom, and during any free time that she had nothing to do. Harry and Ron would stay by her side during meals and classes, and homework sessions (of course). And Fred would watch her during the evenings and make sure she got back to her bedroom safely if she was free that evening.

It was a plan.

…**..**

**A/N: Whenever I write confession scenes, or anything mushy, my first thought is of the big of hunk of cheese on my computer screen. XD Though I'm a sucker for anything sweet. Like Fred rescuing her from rapists. Hahha. How sweet.**

**And to Audrey: Was that an 'Ugh- how lame of her (me) to do that…' or an 'Ugh- what a douche bag "He" is…'? Haha!**


	14. A Wild Baby Appears!

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, but I do own pretty boy and the one guy who no one really cares about because he was just a convenient plot device._

**Thanks for your reviews and everything guys! I read every one of them and they always make me smile! I've been busy doing things of no real importance, and homework, so I finally took the time to proof read this one.**

…

_Tuesday Early Morning, May 17th_

Hermione felt like a human watermelon… or more accurately a human muffin. A blueberry muffin. Mmm… Blueberry's.

"Focus, Hermione." She muttered as she patted her cheeks in the Prefect's bathroom mirror. "This is no time to let cravings take over."

It had been months since her friends had found out and she had reconciled with Fred about the night at the vacation house. They talked for a long time on that hospital bed and he had even confessed that he had wanted her to hate him.

In his words: "An ugly, stupid, immature guy, such as myself, has no right to feel anything for someone like you, Hermione." She recalled him staring at his hands like a child pouting for being told they couldn't have a new toy from the store.

Hermione looked up at him, trying to catch his eyes, and giving a small smile. "What on Earth are you rattling on about? If George saw you now I wonder what he'd think. Fred. You're the kind of guy that would have said "A handsome, witty, highly intelligent guy, such as myself, has every right to like anyone I want whether they're a beauty queen or a troll's toe fungus!" What has gotten into you?" He let out a snort at the fungus comment, trying to erase the mental image of Hermione being green and between two large, hairy toes. After a moment he couldn't help but look down at her.

"I… I guess. After I realized I liked you during those final weeks of my last year at Hogwarts, I suppose I felt… guilty? It's… It's complicated Hermione. Guy's feelings aren't… like girls."

"Oh, so you're going to play the gender card here?"

"That's not what I-"

"You didn't want to like me because you felt you were breaking some invisible boundary between you and Ron just because I am one of his best friends? So you decided to step aside and treat me coldly, so I wouldn't find anything to like about you back, and I would leave you alone so you wouldn't fall for me any more than you already have?"

"Wha… how did you-"

"Guy's feelings are simplistic."

And that had been the end of that.

The brunette stood staring at her reflection in the mirror and mulled over numerous problems she was still faced with.

The baby was due in less than two weeks, but she refused to take any extra time off school and agreed to leave for the hospital soon so she could be in the hands of the doctors during delivery. One of the hospital's seers had foresaw the babies delivery going smoothly, so she figured she could squeeze in a couple more days of study before she fell behind. Not that she really trusted seer's since it was all illogical, but with McGonagall around she was sure she could help her quickly get to St. Mungo's via Floo Powder in the fireplace in the Headmistress's office.

Someone was still attacking her in small ways, though. Small ways that would lead to longtime problems. Paralysis. Deformed limbs. A dead child. Which lead to another problem she had…

Everyone in school knew she was pregnant.

Ravenclaw's aren't idiots. Especially the girls. They had evaluated the situation, did some research, and after a bit of detective work they easily pieced together what was going on. It didn't help that they had Luna as an inside source, and Harry hadn't had time to tell her not to say anything, so it was really no one's fault. She had gotten surprised stares and wolfish whistles as she went to and from class even if her friends stood beside her glaring at them. The Slytherin's stuck their heads together and finally produced a badge that said 'Hermione the Harlot'. The Gryffindors decided to get together as well and made a badge that said "Slytherins can suck our lion sized cocks." or at least they tried, but McGonagall wasn't too pleased and the Gryffindor girls were a bit mortified. So they finally agreed on "Slytherin's are just pissed that they can't get any like we can."

There was much argument about how that wasn't really a catchy slogan, but it made the other houses laugh and the Slytherin's just sneer. Plus George figured out how to hex them to make them change to the original 'lion cock' one, when no higher authority was looking at them.

Unconsciously, people tended to avoid Hermione for fear of being reckless and accidentally causing some problem from misaimed magic. This pleased Hermione since she no longer had to jump when people got to close. She still wore the cloak that hid her stomach which sometimes helped avert attention from her if people didn't know who she was.

Aadyn had become distant. Extremely distant. As in, the most he'd do was nod at her while moving to the opposite side of the hall. Not even a "Hello" or cute charming smile. She figured he had just been shocked and disgusted by her pregnancy as a couple of the snobbier students at Hogwarts were, but she truly hadn't expected that from him. He had seemed so nice.

Fred had become sweet and romantic. Not overly so, which Hermione would sometimes roll her eyes over when passing couples in the halls, but in that cute guy kind of way. They'd walk out to the lake and he'd sit with her, occasionally pointing out where tips of the giant squids tentacle arms poked out as if waving a greeting. Since he was a teacher they were allowed to sit out in the quidditch pitch and watch firefly's fly about, or join Hagrid for a late night sip of tea.

As she ran her fingers along the glass her thoughts floated back to the anonymous attacker. She no longer felt it was Draco. He was stupid but he had nothing to gain from her death. Someone else had a problem with Hermione Granger, and they were taking cheap shots even while knowing she was pregnant.

Her hand formed a fist as she let out a long sigh. "I want to hex them until they wake up somewhere in the Artic surrounded by man eating, male polar bears during mating season." She couldn't help but chuckle at the sinister plot and grinned when she felt a kick from her stomach. Quietly she washed some water over her face before heading back to the Gryffindor Common room to sit for a while in front of the warm fire and wait for everyone else to wake up.

…**.**

_Tuesday Morning, May 16__th_

Hermione stared at the breakfast table and wondered if she had stepped on another Exploding Mudprint while on her way to the Great Hall and had landed up in Heaven. Her eyes wandered up to McGonagall like she was an almighty goddess of all things amazing and fluffy. Why you wonder?

Blueberries.

So, so, so many blueberries.

Blueberry pancakes. Blueberry juice. Blueberry muffins and tarts. Blueberry jam on toast and even blueberry tea! Hermione was ready to get up and start bowing humbly. The Headmistress just gave a small smile having decided it'd be a small Pre-Birth present for the baby since it seemed to enjoy the little blueberries as well as it's mother. The Gryffindor's didn't mind and found it interesting to have a themed meal. The Ravenclaw's liked how it was the same color as their house. Hufflepuffs didn't care as long as it was good. Yet as always, the Slytherin's went off complaining and were directed to Snape with their whines. He just glared them down and sent them off with a rare annoyed look. He happened to be rather fond of blueberries.

Fred at one point caught Hermione's eye as she was indulging happily and gave her a small wave before biting into a tart. After the rest of the school found out about the pregnancy he had just decided to come out and claim the place of the father before speculations and rumors began. Plus he would have been pissed if he saw Slytherin's wearing 'Potter's Prostitute?" or something similar around school.

Even if Hermione was lost in the taste she found herself alert and vigilant. No tacks in her food. No hex's on her tea. It was all turning out to be a great morning. She got mail from her mother who had been attempting to knit a gender neutral green blanket for the baby. She just laughed as she imagined her mother, the dentist, fussing and complaining to her father about yarn. Ginny was scolding Neville for forgetting an important homework assignment for Charms as Luna sat talking animatedly with Seamus and Dean about Wivilsnorts. Hermione wasn't entirely sure what a Wivilsnort was, but she never got the chance to ask. By that time she had already noticed something else rocketing towards her head from across the room.

A bright blue bullet of magic was whizzing towards her at a fast pace, and it didn't look like an accidental spell either. She sat frozen in a perpetual shock, knowing if she ducked someone behind her would get hit and if she stayed still she'd have to take the blunt force of it. In her mind she weighed the danger of unprepared verse pregnant. Before she had a chance to come to a decision, Ron had his wand up and deflected it. The room became still for a moment until multiple shots of blue rocketed down from the ceiling like frozen icicles breaking in spring.

Harry managed to shove Hermione under the table as he held up his wand and deflected some of the attacks directly over them. The pregnant teen peeked out from above the benches to see who was firing them, but was pulled back under by a nervous looking Neville. Screaming resonated across the hall as students ran around trying to get out of the way, defend themselves, and flee from the room. Teachers were barking orders and Hermione spotted Fred looking around frantically, just barely managing to deflect one of the blue drops from hitting a second year.

As he turned to check on the young girl a sparkling blue droplet formed above him and began to gain speed as it tumbled towards his head. Hermione sprang forward, extending her wand out to send a blast of her own red colored magic to smack into it in the nick of time. Unfortunately she had held out her hand too far and at the wrong time as she was unable to recoil her arm before a blue liquid seeped over her hand. A burning sensation ran up her arm and it felt like someone was driving thick needles into her skin at certain sensitive spots. The feeling creeped upward as she tried to draw in breath to scream out in pain. Slowly it reached her shoulder as air began to leak out of her mouth and a high pitched wail fell from her lips.

Fred spun around on his heel and sprang forth towards the source of the cry. He pushed a bench from his path and reached his arms out to grab her.

The pain had moved across her chest and into her other arm. It was unbearable and she could feel the impending sense that she knew where it was going to go next.

"Fred, hurry…" She managed to whisper as it slowly moved over her breasts bringing about a whole new wave of stinging and burning. The older redhead sat shaking as he racked his brain trying to remember the reversal incantation. He had learned it in his sixth year, and he could see the answer hiding behind Hermione's eyes, yet her inability to concentrate long enough to cast it kept her in pain.

Just as it reached the top of her stomach she screamed loud enough to draw the attention of most all the witches and wizards in the room who weren't trying to help the other wounded students or professors who hadn't been fast enough. She clenched her teeth praying to some higher power to help stop the magically infused poison that was spreading over her. By the time Luna Lovegood was close enough to cast the spell that would reverse the process, it covered half of Hermione's stomach.

A bright purple ball of light shot from Luna's wand and embraced Hermione gently, absorbing the pain that had spread through her body like wildfire and making her feel numb momentarily. Fred squeezed his arms gently to help calm her hysterical movements like he had when teaching her how to ride a broom.

"Hermione, Hermione! Calm down. You're okay now." He said holding her tightly as he tried to relax her. He knew it wasn't good to have a fast heart rate when pregnant.

"Fred!" She whispered as her fingers dug into his freckle covered arms almost hard enough to draw blood. "I can feel it…"

"What?" Fred asked alarmed, his hands flying towards her stomach, his palms resting on the bulge that was exposed when her robes fell aside.

"The poison spell… It spread to the baby!" Her breathing was shaky as she felt the babies feet beat on the inside of her stomach helplessly.

"P-Professor McGonagall!" Ron shouted over hearing Hermione as he ran to get the headmistresses attention.

"Fred. My wand. Where's my wand." She said reaching around on the floor desperately as the pounding became quicker and more violent. Neville found it beside his leg and quickly handed it to the trembling brunette.

She pointed the blunt end at her stomach and whispered the counter spell. A bright light came out and directly hit her stomach, but the thrashing inside of her continued. She said the spell again but louder and more frantic. Again nothing. Over and over she said it, her voice growing in pitch and fear, until Fred had to finally hold her arm back to stop her.

Madame Pomfry knelt down under the table with Minerva at her side, the two becoming alarmed at Hermione's state. Fred quickly explained to the nurse what had happened and received a worried look in reply.

"That baby needs to come out now." The older woman said as she began transfiguring benches and broken plates into towels and gloves. She held out her wand and pressed it to the lower part of the seventh years round stomach before speaking her incantation.

Hermione screamed in surprise as water leaked out of her and drenched the floor. The Headmistress quickly cleaned it up with a spell, pushing Neville out of the way so that she could help Madame Pomfry.

"Fred, you have to help her. Start casting come charms that will reduce pain and please calm her down." McGonagall asked glancing up at him as he sat with Hermione's head against his chest and his legs spread out around her. The two older women sat opposite of him, the nurse using her wand to try and repeat some of the spells she had studied for childbirth while apprenticing, and the other giving Fred one of her more serious looks. He nodded quickly and pointed his own wand over his lover, allowing a strong spell that resembled morphine to wash over her. This only seemed to heighten her fear when she could no longer feel the baby kicking.

"Hermione." Fred whispered into her ear as McGonagall put up invisibility charms, for the brunette's sake. She was sure Hermione would be upset to know her classmates had seen her give birth. Not to mention the attacker had the perfect opportunity when she was most vulnerable.

"Hermione. Listen to me." Fred continued wiping his thumb over her cheek. Things had suddenly seemed to slow down as if time had stopped. She no longer felt a life inside of her, or could acknowledge the women in front of her.

"Fred." She whispered, tightening her grip on the arm he had around her chest to keep her from thrashing about. He had come to realize she was cool headed when other's were in trouble, but seemed to become highly upset when it was just her.

"Do you remember what I said to you that night at the vacation house?"

"You said a lot of things. Some of which aren't appropriate for this situation." She whispered with a grin. It was weird. Her baby had been going nuts inside her moments ago, but now she couldn't feel anything or anyone except Fred. Like they were in their own world. In one way it was nice to just be the two of them. It was like the night at the beach house, but that night had passed and it had brought about the start of an addition to that world. She could feel an empty hole in it that she knew belonged to a small child. The morphine-like charm kept her from being overtaken by this fear.

"Ha, yeah, but I'm talking about something specific… with three words in it."

"Oh, great Merlin?" She said teasingly as she lulled against him. Madame Pomfry was posed at the ready to catch the baby as it's head finally began to break through.

"Not exactly." Fred said, keeping his full attention on Hermione. He knew if she looked at the bloody mess that was forming around her she'd become frantic again. He was thankful that he had added a charm that kept her thoughts fuzzy for a short time.

"Ah, right there?"

"Not really."

"I should have done this sooner?"

"That's more than three words, Hermione."

"Oh yeah. Those were my thoughts."

He brushed his lip against her ear and in a deeper, huskier tone of his voice laced with a bit of tension, he whispered, "I love you."

A ball of purple light slithered from Madame Pomfry's wand and encompassed the small body that was twitching and shaking in pain. Hermione watched groggily as the baby calmed down and began to wail loudly. Fred's attention was distracted by the ripples that had begun to attack the charmed dome that kept the other's out. McGonagall had felt it would also be better if Hermione didn't see other face's looking so it wasn't possible for Fred to see who was firing at the protective charms. After a moment the ripples that had resembled the after effects of rocks being thrown into a lake, stopped and muted shout's could be heard from the other side.

As Madame Pomfry began to wipe up the blood that was still dripping from Hermione, and sliced the cord that still connected her from her child, Fred removed the charm that had made her conscious slow and dream like, making her alert and aware again.

McGonagall who was trying to ignore her aching back, while kneeling on the floor and holding the first baby to ever be born in the Hogwarts great hall, looked around for something to wrap the child up with. Fred, who had been wearing a red shirt with a gold lion on the upper left, offered it to be used as a makeshift blanket.

As Hermione's sense's began to sharpen she noticed multiple things at once.

Fred wasn't wearing a shirt.

Madame Pomfry was cleaning blood.

Someone outside the protective charm barrior that someone had thrown up was shouting. Not multiple people. Just one.

McGonagall had wiped a baby off with a black Professor's cloak which was thrown to the side, and was now wrapping it up in a red shirt.

There is a baby.

A baby.

Baby.

Her baby.

That is her baby.

Hermione argued with her self for nearly a minute, telling herself not to break out crying in front of two respectable old women, and the guy she liked.

It was pretty pointless of course.

Hot tears rolled over her cheeks as she raised her hands to show she wanted to hold her child. McGonagall looked up from her coddling of the newborn to give Hermione a smile and extend the child. The baby was on the tip of the brunette's fingers when suddenly the barrier collapsed and a bright bolt of caramel colored light spiraled toward the crying red bundle.

…**..**

**A/N: Finally finished. Lots of stuff went right in this chapter and I am pleased. Thanks for all the supportive review's I've gotten!**


	15. Fucked Up Ravenclaws

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of it's affiliates. I only own characters no one knows about._

**Hey guys. Long story short, I no longer have a writing program on my computer, so I'm relying on the laggy Google documents to write stuff.**

**Sorry it's takin' so long.**

**...**

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow! OW! Madame Pomfrey that hurts!" Hermione whined into her pillow, as she kicked her legs back and forth. Harry was holding down the back of her knees while Ron held down the shoulder that her shirt still covered. Dried blood was covering her right shoulder and left her clothes a dark scarlet that blended with the deep red shirt underneath her robes. A large reddish-pink gash that resembled a star was being cleaned throughly by the same woman who had helped deliver her baby.

Fred sat in a chair by her side, one hand on her cheek to try and calm her while the other held the very thing she had gotten the wound while protecting. Their baby. Their little boy.

"OW!" Hermione snapped biting down into the pillow as she thrashed a bit against Ron's hand.

"You just had a baby, and you're complaining about this? Hush, I'm almost done." The older woman said, applying a bit more liquid medicine onto a cloth and patting down on the brunette's back. "It's good you let this hit your shoulder though. I don't wish to think about the outcome had it hit your face." Ron and Harry could feel the shiver that passed through their friend and she felt their grips loosen on her body.

"Heeeey. Hi cutie. You're really soft, you know that?" Fred cooed to the baby, bouncing him slightly in his arm. Hermione watched her boyfriend and the newborn bonding and gave a small smile. Closing her eyes she listened to the babies soft noises and breathed slowly as Madame Pomfrey finished healing her. After a moment her eyes opened slightly to see Fred's fingers twining with her own and his thumb rubbing the back of her hand, winking at her.

"Okay. Done. Don't move though. Give it a few more minutes to dry, and you should be able to move without too much pain."

It was too late though. Hermione was already fast asleep, the back of her lovers hand pressed against her lips. Her baby resting snuggly in said lovers arms. Her best friends pulling a blanket around her waist to allow air for the wound to heal.

"We'll be back soon." Harry said giving Hermione a sad look. "We're going over to McGonagall's to see what's going on."

"Who was it that's been attacking Hermione?" Fred asked, lifting the baby closer to his chest.

"Surprisingly enough... A Ravenclaw." Ron said wiping his hands on his robes. Hermiones blood was still dried on his hands, but it wasn't the first time he'd had a friends blood on his hands.

"A guy?"

"No. Some stupid girl."

**...**

Harry knocked on the door that lead to Dumbledore's office. He had lost count of how many times he had made that trip, and how many times he had done with with worry clouding his heart. This time it was anger. Anger at someone attacking one of his best friends.

"Come in, Mr. Potter. Mr. Weasley."

"Headmaster..." Harry said as he opened the door and found himself stairing directly at a very angry looking third year Ravenclaw. Her hair was messy and her eyes fiery with rage.

"You're that stupid bitches friends. I'll really kill her this time. I was so close. She just kept getting lucky. Let me go! I'll do it!"

"Young lady. Be silent. Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, if you are going to be in here please take a seat and speak only when I request it of you." McGonagall instructed, motioning towards two empty chairs that slid out from beside the wall at her mention. The boys nervously sat down, their eyes following the girl bound up by a spell, and unsure of what to think.

"Now. Miss Gaffery. What is the meaning of all this? What do you have against Miss Granger?" The Headmistress inquired, leaning forward, her wand resting in her hand in case of a sudden frantic attack by the girl. She was tied up to tightly for such a thing like that to be possible.

"That stupid mudbloo-"

"WATCH YOUR MOUTH!" Ron snapped jumping up, but was quickly held back by an equally angry Harry.

"Mr. Weasley. I understand you anger but please remain silent." Ron muttered an apology as he crossed his arms and sat sulkily. It was weird having someone they didn't even know insult their friend so harshly. It was different when someone they usually disliked said it. It had become common words by Malfoy, and they usually got him back in some way. They couldn't even recall having a problem with this girl, yet there she was, calling their friend the 'M' word.

"Why is she special? You know she was meant to be a Ravenclaw. It was her destiny, yet she was put in Gryffindor. It was like she was telling us she wouldn't waste time bother with our lot. She was smart enough as it was. Then he showed up." She seemed to give a heavy, forelorn sigh that made the three observers raise their eyebrows in question. "Yet it's always her. When we walked down the hall his eyes would stray to her. I'd be trying to talk to him and he wouldn't even look at me. Just look past at HER! THAT STUPID HAG OF A GIRL. THE TRAITOR OF RAVENCLAWS." Gabrielle Gaffery screamed, thrashing back and forth. The Gryffindor's and Headmistress were taken a back, having no idea what or who the girl was referring too.

Suddenly a knock at the door pulled their attentions away from the temper tantrum tied to the chair and instead to the tall boy who had to kneal to step into the elder woman's office. All became silent as he pushed his long black strands of hair out of his face. He had blood dripping down from a cut in his temple and when he saw Gabrielle, his eyes seemed to soften and become angry all at the same time.

"Headmistress... I think I might be able to explain." Aadyn said, bowing his head in respect to her. She nodded and prodded her hand to a third empty chair that scooted towards him and ushered him to be seated.

"A-Aadyn?" Gabrielle whispered but he didn't bother turning to look at her.

"It would seem this is all partly my fault." He lowered his head guiltily, too embaressed to look at Harry or Ron. "It seems Miss Gaffery may have... gotten a tiny... crush on me... and I may have a bit of a crush on Miss Granger." He coughed in the awkward silence that followed and flinched when Gabrielle screamed beside him.

"I KNEW THAT. IT'S ALWAYS HER. THE HEROIC GRYFFINDOR. THE GIRL WHO GET'S ALL THE GUYS. _WHY_? WHY NOT ANYONE ELSE? I'M JUST AS PRETTY, YET YOU WOULD ALWAYS LOOK AT HER!"

"Gabrielle!" Aadyn shouted angrily.

"So that's it." Headmistress McGonagall said, sinking back into her chair. "All this stress and worry over a petty thing like jealousy. Why didn't you come and talk to me about this Mr. Hastings."

"I'm sorry Headmistress. I didn't think it was to this extent. When I felt something was going on, I tried to just ignore Hermione completely, but... I guess I still end up drifting off and staring at her unintentionally..."

"Wait a moment..." Ron interupted, his hands beginning to shake. "You mean Hermione... our Hermione got hit with bludgers, exploading mudprints, tacks in her food, almost lost her baby multiple times, and is now healing in the hospital wing... all... because of some STUPID. IRRESPONSIBLE. PETTY RAVENCLAW GIRL'S JEALOUSY, WHICH ISN'T EVEN HERMIONE'S FAULT TO BEGIN WITH. I SWEAR TO MERLIN, HEADMISTRESS, I WILL ANNIHALATE THIS GIRL." Harry wasn't trying to stop him this time.

"She almost lost her baby! Her baby with a different guy! She didn't have anything to do with Aadyn, yet you targetted her! Are you mental!" Harry shouted, his anger finally snapping and unleashing.

"DON'T YELL AT ME. IT WASN'T FAIR."

"LIFE ISN'T FAIR!" Ron screamed and was finally held back by the use of McGonagalls magic.

"Mr. Weasley, please calm down and resume your seat. I will handle this as is appropriate... Miss Gaffery... you're only a third year, yet you have put multiple people in terrible danger this year. Miss Granger has suffered serious trauma. She can't even walk down a hall without watching where her feet will be going next. She jumps whenever someone even brushs against her in the halls. I'm surprised she can still go out to the quidditch pitch without much worry."

"That's not my problem." Gabrielle growled.

"The hell it isn't!" Ron snapped, but grew silent under McGonagalls glare.

"Especially with the attack today, and all the wounded students, I have no choice. I'm sorry Ms. Gaffery, but from this point on you are no longer a student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft And Wizardry. We will notify your parents, and confiscate your wand."

"No." Gabrielle whispered as the realization of her situation struck her.

"Headmistress." Aadyn murmered, a heavy feeling of guilt weighing down on him.

"Mr. Hastings." Aadyn sat up in sudden surprise. His hands shook as he rested his palm against the pocket holding his wand, praying to Merlin he wouldn't have to forget the feeling of it in his palms.

"Detention for three months for not bringing this to my attention earlier."

He let out a deep sigh of relief as all the nerves in his body relaxed. Ron sat in his chair, arms crossed and a brooding expression on his face. Harry looked from McGonagall to Gabrielle Gaffery who was now in tears. The boys didn't feel pity for her. They were both pleased with the outcome of the meeting. The Headmistressed dismissed all three boys so as to deal with Mr. and Mrs. Gaffery who would be arriving any moment.

"You... you won't tell Hermione about my crush, will you?" Aadyn asked, his cheeks tinted pink at admitting his feelings. The red head and his famous best friend exchanged looks before nodding.

"We think it'd be safer if you stayed alway though. Gabrielle might not have been the only girl at this school who had a crazy crush on you and is willing to hurt Hermione. We're graduating this year, so it should get easier, but... until then."

"Yes. I understand. I'm very sorry for what has happened. Thank you for being considerate." Aadyn said, performing a full bow for the boys before retreating down the hall to spend the rest of the week sulking in his room.

"At least Hermione is safe now." Ron said, finally uncrossing his arms and sliding his hands into his pocket.

"Except now she has a baby with your brother."

"Yeah. Except for that."

"Fred will be a good dad."

"You think so?" Ron asked as they began to make their way back to the Hospital Wing.

"I sure do hope so. If Hermione trusts him enough to consider raising a baby with him, he can't be to hopeless." Suddenly Harry stopped walking and gave a light chuckle. Ron stopped and turned to look at him confused.

"What?"

"Do you remember when we first met at the train, and your brothers were trying to console Ginny about her not being able to come to Hogwarts until the following year?"

"Kind of. What about it?"

"Did they ever send her a Hogwarts toilet seat?"

"Ah. The key to her affections... no. I think they never did."

"I think it'd make a good gift for the baby. A... welcome to the world gift."

Ron stared at him for a moment in amazement. "You're going to give the baby a Hogwarts toilet seat? Hermione would not approve."

"It's our last year. Why not." Harry said with a grin as he set off for the deserted girls bathroom.

"Wait, Harry... You can't be serious." Ron called after him from the end of the hall. "Harry. Harry! Wait for me!"

**...**

Torston Arthur Weasley was born in the midst of chaos to 17 year old Hermione Granger and 19 year old Fred Weasley in the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was the first of five children, and the only one to have the same brown hair as his mother. His eyes were blue as his father's, and his smile was just as fiendish in his youth. He grew up to be intelligent like his mother, but often used those wits and booksmarts to pull pranks that impressed his own father. He was placed in Gryffindor, more or less for his ability to feel no fear in the face of Filch when he jinxed Ms. Norris to the ceiling before he even entered the Great Hall 11 years after his birth. He had three detentions by the first night, and would spend his days roaming the halls of Hogwarts with his close friend Teddy Lupin who had been born around the same time.

**...**

**Fin.**

**Sorry if this seems to end anti-climatically. Once I can get a writing program other than google documents, I might try to add more detail, and maybe some fluff between Hermione and Fred. I just felt bad that I left you guys hanging, so at least you know that the baby is A-Okay, and even turns out to be a Badass like it's daddy.**

**Review. Comment. Complain. Whatever floats your boat.**


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